Good Girl Gone Bad
by guiltypleasurexo
Summary: Carly's Dad sent her off to Law school as soon as she graduated high school to get away from town and to get her cleaned up. Now older, somewhat wiser and a new career lined up for her, Carly returns to Rosewood. However, with a past just waiting to repeat its-self and get her involved with everything she tried to stay from for so long. Jason/OC. (Starts in Season 5)
1. The Return

**The return:**

The young woman sat anxiously in the middle of the station on a plastic grey chair, one of her legs were folded over the other, as one of her feet tapped against the ground and her eyes kept darting from the clock on the wall to the office door in the far corner of the room.

The butterflies she had felt in the pit of her stomach had hardly stopped since the short drive over to the station, she had no idea if it was because she got a sudden call telling her to come in as soon as possible, or the fact that she was back in town for the first time in three whole years and could be spotted anytime soon.

Her home had once been in Rosewood before she graduated high school and was basically forced to fly over to the other side of the country to start her new life and begin her dream career, studying at a college in New York, far enough away from the drama and people back home. She had to leave her friends, the home she grew up in, her father, the lifestyle she had adopted and instead become a whole new person just to fit in with what was expected of her at law school.

"Carly Monroe?" a voice called from across the room, startling her out of her daydream and over to where the sound was coming from.

She quickly rose to her feet when she realised an older looking women was calling her from behind the now open office door she had been looking at moments before, with a small smile on her face and she was beckoning the girl over to her. Taking a deep breath, she returned the gesture before making her way over to one of the many offices in the station, the doubts from before being pushed to the back of her mind as she focused on the next stage.

Carly had received an important phone call earlier on in the day from the station just as she had been arranging the last of her furniture in her brand new apartment, informing her that she needed to get down to the station as soon as possible regarding the position she had applied for and had been interviewed for twice already by the Rosewood police department.

She had finally now reached the last part of her recruitment process and when she had last met with the lieutenant she would be working alongside, they had told her that she stood very good chances of getting the job and would be able to start within the next few weeks. As soon as Carly had got the news, she began looking for apartments in the town, it wasn't long before she put down a deposit and had already booked her flights to come home and begin the career she had always wanted.

Growing up, Carly had always had an interest in all things criminology and would always come as a detective to her class mates fancy dress parties in the third grade, whilst other girls her age came as their favourite Disney princess. Her interest had come with her throughout her whole childhood through to her teenage years. Fortunately for her when it came to her senior year and applying for college, she knew exactly what she wanted to study as it had been her plan all along and she knew it definitely had something to do with the fact her mom had been a part of the Rosewood police team for many years before deciding to have kids.

Once Carly had arrived at the office door, the older woman stepped aside allowing Carly to make her way inside and the other woman to leave the room so they could get on with the meeting Carly had been called in for.

As Carly stepped inside the large office, she met the face of Linda Tanner, the lieutenant she had grown to recognise and was now going hopefully going to be her boss. Her office looked neat and tidy despite the number of files she had on her desk. Carly couldn't wait to get herself stuck in with the cases and hopefully solve some crimes to help the suffering victims.

"Miss Monroe, please take a seat." Linda told the younger woman from across the other side of the desk without even bothering looking up at her from the computer she was concentrating on.

Slowly nodding her head, she made her way over to the cushioned chair Linda had instructed she sit upon in which she did, the older woman from before, closed the door behind them leaving them to it, as Carly's nerves grew even more just waiting to find out what she was needed so suddenly for. All she could do was hope it was good news. She couldn't deal with getting rejected and having to tell her father that she hadn't got the job since he had been supporting her this whole time, the disappointment he would feel could only make her feel guilty if it went in the opposite direction than what they had wanted.

"I'm sorry to have to spring such a random phone call onto you since you probably haven't settled back in yet and your father informed me that you had only just landed last night but this couldn't wait till the morning." Linda explained to her making her feel increasingly concerned as to what Lieutenant Tanner was going on about. Did she have this job or not?

"No of course I understand." Carly said dryly her throat was tight from the nerves and she couldn't help but clear her throat after she had spoken causing Linda to turn her attention away from the screen and finally on the younger women opposite.

"I just called you in here to go over a few things, fill out some paper work and then you'll be ready to start your first official shift straight after." Linda shuffled some files around on her desk before leaning over to hand Carly some papers.

"So… wait… I've actually got the job?" Carly asked confused that it had been that easy and she had got herself worked up for nothing.

"I forgot to mention that to you didn't I?" Lieutenant Tanner smirked at her as Carly gradually took the papers from her and skimmed over them, before looking back not even caring that she was now grinning from ear to ear.

"I can't believe it! This is what I've always wanted." Carly laughed in disbelief as Tanner got up from her desk chair and wondered over to grab her bag off one of the units.

"Well you better believe it, Miss Monroe." Tanner told her as Carly looked back down at the papers again ready to sign them so she could make it official. "…since I have put you in for the overnight shift tonight with another detective who is working on the Alison DiLaurentis case."

Carly's head immediately shot up from the paper work, her eyes widened slightly and she felt her chest tighten at the name that had left Tanner's lips, a name she had not heard in a very long time. "Did you just say Alison DiLaurentis?"

"Yes I did Miss Monroe, does that happen to be a problem for you?" Tanner questioned her with raised eyebrows causing Carly to shake her head frantically.

"N-n-no I just didn't think I would be assigned to such a big case already." Carly quickly said trying to cover up her slip up as she stood up from her chair and wondered over to the door with the lieutenant.

"I have faith in you that you will deliver, otherwise I would have never invested my time in you." Linda replied back as she pulled up the door before she led the way into the main foyer and over to another office.

The nerves she had felt from earlier had returned back knowing she was going to be working on a case that brought a lot of her past back up and she couldn't help but feel like she was going to have to be extra careful when it came to getting herself involved with all of this again. She never thought returning to Rosewood would possibly make her step right back into where left of and she knew she would have to work extra hard to remain focused.

Lieutenant Tanner made her way inside another office which was very similar to her own but with less filing cabinets and a smaller space. Instead of there being one average sized desk, there was a large long table in the centre of the room with a laptop and some paper folders on the end closest to the door suggesting that whoever was working in here at the moment was actually somewhere else currently. On the end of the table was another laptop with a pile of paperwork and two folders beside it, which Carly understood that this was now her position of work and these resources were for her.

"The other detective seems to have popped out at the moment but they shouldn't be long." Tanner informed her as Carly made her way over to her desk. "Make yourself comfortable Miss Monroe; I have left a note of everything that needs to be done by the morning."

Carly gave her a small smile and nodded her head as she began to slip off her coat and placed her bag on the top of the desk. "Aren't you staying?"

"Unfortunately it's the end of my shift and the only time I can go get a few hours' sleep but I will be back here first thing tomorrow to see how you've got on." Tanner told her before leaving Carly to begin the large amount of tasks she had to do before her shift finished the next morning.

It had been over an hour and a half since Carly had been told she was starting her new job that evening and had already gotten herself stuck in with the tasks she had been set. She had crossed pretty much everything off on the list that ranged from making some phone calls to printing off and filing paper work away. She had even just got back from a coffee run for and the detective she would be working with since they were both on the night shift but also because she thought if she wanted to get on well with them, she might as well do a kind gesture.

She laid the coffee cups down onto the centre of the table before slipping her arms back out of her coat and she hung it round the back of her chair. Carefully she leant over to pick up her cup and took a small slip out of the liquid since it was still boiling hot. Laying the cup back down on the surface, she picked up a piece of paper and wondered over to the photocopier in the far corner of the room.

Carly began to hum to herself as she used her fingers to press the buttons on the machine ready to copy the important document she had been left to do as one of her tasks. She liked keeping busy especially when working late and always had been known for being a quick and hard worker.

She had even been too focused and in a world of her own that she hadn't even noticed someone else's presence now in the room with her. The detective came to a halt just inches away from his desk chair, when he had spotted the young women on the other side of the room and could hear her humming quietly to herself.

His eyebrows rose up in amusement at the fact she was so unaware that he was also in the room with her. Also he couldn't help but trail his eyes over the back of her body; he could make out the curves around her hips and the peachiness of her bum in the cigarette pants she was wearing, her legs looked longer despite her average height with the black court heels on her feet and he couldn't help but smirk to himself at the attractiveness of his new co-worker.

Slipping off his jacket, he draped it over the back of his chair like Carly had done moments before with hers and purposely chucked his keys down onto the wooden table wanting to grab her attention, his eyes never leaving her as he did so just waiting for her to turn around and get caught in the act.

As soon as the keys hit the table, Carly felt her body freeze and the sound what had been coming from throat before stopped instantly. She felt her heart rate increase and her cheeks began to flush at the realisation that she had completely not heard someone enter the room and had now probably made a fool out of herself.

Biting down on her bottom lip, Carly gradually span her body round to come face to face with the detective she would be working alongside. He turned his head to the side slightly once their eyes met, his eyebrows still raised and her cheeks continued to flush at the male stood across the room staring at her.

He was the typical tall, dark haired, dark brown eye kind of guy; he was dressed in a suit and smart shoes, a silver coloured watch strapped to his wrist, with his police badge attached to his belt on his pants. He was rather attractive to say the least and Carly couldn't help but feel she had made the wrong first impression already, which needed to be fixed fast.

"Um Hi." she said quietly taking the papers off the machine and wondering over to the table, the detectives eyes never leaving her, making her feel even more uneasy. "I grabbed you some coffee, thought you might need it since you're working late."

For the first time since he had come into the room, he averted his eyes down to the coffee cup on the centre of the table and reached over to take it. "Thank you" he nodded at her taking a sip out of it before looking at her "You must be Carly Monroe."

"Yes. Tanner signed me to work with you on some cases." Carly told him picking up her own coffee and taking a sip as he nodded his head at her understandingly.

"Of course, Miss Monroe." he replied laying the cup down and opening a case file before scattering the contents across the desk. Alison's face on a newspaper article sat in front of them causing Carly's stomach to twist. "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm detective Holbrook."

"You too." Carly answered, flashing him a light smile instantly forgetting how she had been embarrassing herself before and the picture on the desk, as he returned the gesture with a cheeky grin.

His eyes were still roaming over the front of her body, this time taking in the low neck white blouse she was wearing which shew off the smallest amount of cleavage, the features of her face, the way her light brown golden hair framed her face in small flowing waves, as she began to get back to work her of organising files, not even realising he had been checking her out. He could get used to seeing her in his office every day and working alongside him. It had been a long time since there had been someone remotely attractive in his presence.

"So Carly, you're aware of the cases you've been assigned to work on I understand. This does mean that if I ever need you to accompany me on investigations or find out some research for me, that you'll be able to do it" Holbrook stated as he took a seat at his desk and logged onto his laptop.

"Of course" she replied simply tucking her hair behind her ear as she piled some folders on top of each other and rubbed her lips together as she concentrated.

"Good." He paused as he watched her suddenly becoming fascinated with her mannerism. "I was told that you studied in New York, so why choose Rosewood as your place of work?"

"I… um… I actually grew up here." Carly told him looking over, as he frowned not expecting her to be from around here. "It was always going to be the place I came back to, I had always wanted to work for the Rosewood police team since I was a child."

"Tanner did say you were passionate." Holbrook said causing Carly to chuckle slightly knowing that in her interviews she had spoken a lot about how much this meant to her. "She also said you were twenty one, which means you haven't been in Rosewood for at least three years."

"Uh yeah." Carly mumbled scratching the back of her neck feeling slightly awkward that she was being asked so many questions already. She understood she had to get to know her co-workers but didn't expect to be basically integrated on her first day.

"You must have been around that summer then." he guessed typing away at his computer causing Carly to stop what she was doing and look at him properly.

"What summer?" she asked confused.

"The summer Alison DiLaurentis went missing." Holbrook answered.

Hearing his words caused her face to drop slightly, her throat tightened like it had earlier when she had found out she would be working on the case and she had to swallow away the lump that had formed in her throat. She couldn't believe already that she was being reminded so much of that summer in just over a couple of hours.

"I was in town yes."

"What were you doing that day?" he continued to quiz making Carly frown and drop the files she had in her hand down on the table before turning to face him fully.

She couldn't believe she was getting questioned like this already and somehow she felt like he was being suspicious of her, like she was a suspect in the case and that somehow he knew what happened to her that summer.

"I don't think that's really relevant, do you Detective Holbrook?" Carly flipped it back on him, wanting him to get off her case before she crumbled and the barrier she had been putting up for the past three years came tumbling down around her. "If you don't mind, I need to use the rest room."

Without giving him a chance to answer her, she marched past him as quickly as she could as her breathing got heavier. There was no way in hell she was letting her past become a part of her present or future again. She would never let it.

Holbrook spun around in his chair after seeing Carly storm out of the office the way she did, a suspicious expression formed on his face at the girls odd behaviour. He had never meant to make her feel uncomfortable. All he wanted to do was get to know her a little bit better. He never planned on scaring the girl off. But he couldn't help but wonder why she reacted so badly to his questions concerning that summer?

As Carly pushed open the ladies toilets, she rushed into one of the cubicles and slammed the door shut behind her. She was thankful that no one else was in the room with her because she couldn't have more people question her. She felt her heart beating rapidly in her chest and her hands began to sake slightly as she stood her back against one of the walls in the cubicle. She couldn't believe how badly she was freaking out after her conversation with Holbrook.

Why did she ever think it was a good idea to come back here and pretend everything was going to be different?

She knew this meant she had to work extra harder to keep her cover up, or else she would be jetting herself off to the other side of the country again without having her dad to give her the extra push this time.

 **Author note: Thank you so much for reading if you got this far! This is my brand new story and I have already wrote nearly ten parts to this. Although my writing has been put on hold for the next two weeks since I am so busy with finishing college but after then I plan to continue my writing.**

 **Therefore I would love if you could leave me a review with your thoughts on the first part of this story so I can get an idea if anyone would be interest in the next parts. I really appreciate all feedback.**

 **Thank you again for reading. I really hope you enjoyed. I can't wait to share more of this story with you guys.**

 **xx**


	2. Sudden Regrets

**Sudden Regrets**

Staring back at her reflection in the mirror a few minutes later, Carly took a deep breath and exited the restroom she had previous escaped to when she had felt the familiar feelings of anxiety creep upon her.

Now feeling more relaxed and like she could cope with this, she strutted her way back into the office where detective Holbrook was still sitting in the same place and looked like he was deep in thought, until Carly made reappearance and his eyes were back on her again.

She could feel his lingering stare, making her feel more uncomfortable but brushed it off as she wasn't going to let her past or the guy she was working with come between the career she had always wanted.

An awkward silence crept over them as Holbrook tapped his pen against the end of the table watching Carly as she finished filing the papers away before taking a seat and focusing on her laptop, trying to ignore the looks the detective was giving her from the other end of the table.

"Look I'm sorry." Detective Holbrook broke the silence after a few moments causing Carly to finally take a glance at him. "I just wanted to get to know you better and I knew it was wrong of me to go about it that way."

Carly remained silent after hearing his apology not knowing whether or not to really believe him, since to her it had come across as like he was questioning her as a suspect in Alison's case, rather than as trying to get to know her like he had proposed he was supposedly doing.

She didn't even know if she liked the idea of him getting to know her anyway, since she held a lot of deep and dark secrets that she would hope that never get out in a place like Rosewood. It was full of judgemental people that always got involved with each other's business. If you would make one mistake, however big or small it may be, then you would have everyone gossiping about it.

If she was going to try and survive back in her hometown, then she would have to trust only those who mattered to her. Not many people knew of her past and she would have liked to have kept it that way, since it was a place Carly wished she would never have to go back to. She got herself involved with the wrong crowd to say the least.

Once he had realised that Carly wasn't going to forgive him so easily, he sat up straight in his chair and picked a document up off the messy desk. "I thought it would be a good idea if I made you a copy of where we are right now in the investigation, especially since things have really begun to develop quite quickly in the last few hours."

Carly turned her attention to the piece of paper he was now sliding across the table to her and she carefully leant over and retrieved the information. Holding the paper in her hands, she briefly scanned the contents of it and was surprised as to what she saw.

She never thought the night that she was assigned to her first shift at the station was also going to be the same night that a witness had come forward to make a confession that Alison DiLaurentis was actually alive. No wonder Tanner wanted her to start so soon since Carly would now be in the depth of it all.

Still feeling that Holbrook was staring at her, she lifted her eyes up from the paper and her eyes met with his. She forced a smile onto her lips as he nodded back at her before averting his eyes away for the first time in a long time back onto his laptop, leaving Carly nothing more than to do the same.

However hard she knew that working on this investigation would be, she understood that this was the perfect chance for her to prove to not just herself but to her father and everyone around her that she could this, whatever obstacles came in her way present or from her past, she could overcome them and prove that she was serious about her job. She hadn't been dreaming of becoming a detective and going to a different state to study for most of her life for nothing.

After a good fifteen minutes of the two of them getting on with whatever work they had to do, the sound of the telephone beside detective Holbrook began to ring out into the quiet room. From across the desk, Carly looked at him from over the laptop screen and she watched him suspiciously as he pressed the accept button.

Seconds later the voice of a woman came out from the phone notifying him of a call from the New York Police Department she had put on hold on another line. Holbrook accepted the call and picked up the handheld, bringing it up to his ear as he waited to hear what they wanted.

"We've got a lot going on here tonight, what can I help you with?" He asked leaning back in his seat. Carly continued observing him, wanting to know what was going on since the call was from New York and she found herself wanting to know even more when Holbrook held a look of confusion.

"Why would a shooting in New York have anything to do with us?" he responded to the person on the other end of the phone making Carly shift in her seat, knowing everything was hitting to close to home in all aspects now.

Holbrook picked up a pen off his desk before leaning forward and jotting down something as well as underlining it, on one of the Rosewood police department notepads. "Ok I'll look into him and get back to you, thank you."

He quickly laid the phone back down onto holder and moved closer to the desk in his seat, his eyes trailed over to Carly who was still watching him concerned. "Miss Monroe, I have a job for you to do. Please can you look up Ezra Fitz for me, anything about him that you think is relevant to the case and what fits in with a shooting in New York."

"Of course." Carly answered quickly, happy that she actually get stuck into some proper work and prove her skills and knowledge to everyone. She opened up the state police database which was a program on her laptop and typed in the name in the search bar.

After a few seconds, the page loaded and with it came all the data the police had on Ezra Fitz including a picture, his occupation, his height and weight, address, eye colour and finger prints. Carly began to scan the page for any clues as to what could link Ezra to New York.

Having lived there for the past three years, she had become familiar with most of the areas and the lifestyle that came with it. Crime was a major issue for the city so whenever something went down she was always researching and finding out as much as she could to build her own cases to solving these crimes right from her dorm room on campus.

When she had looked over all the data the police had stored on their system and found herself with no answers, she took to the internet to look deeper into Ezra Fitz. Holbrook on the other hand was also busy working on his computer also trying to find links.

"Hey Carly, I think I might have found something." Holbrook informed her as he beckoned her over with his fingers, keeping his eyes glued on the screen.

Leaping up from her desk, she jogged round to the other side and stood behind him, looking at the laptop where he had a page open on Jackie Ryan's Society Snapshot.

When he felt Carly presents behind him, he zoomed closer in on the website and clicked on of the posts that were titled 'The Fitzgerald Family'. As soon as the page got bigger Holbrook spoke up turning his head to look up at her "Do you notice anything familiar with the name, Fitzgerald?"

She looked harder at the laptop screen, something instantly clinking in her head when she had read it over again and this time she knew what Holbrook was suggesting. "Ezra's a FitzGerald" she said slowly before looking down at him "Meaning that theirs a link between him and the Fitzgerald theatre in New York"

The Fitzgerald theatre was owned by a rich and wealthy family known as the Fitzgerald's. If Ezra happened to be a Fitzgerald, then it would explain why his last name was Fitz and why he would have been in New York that night. Although Carly couldn't help but feel this had something to do with the case they were working on especially now Alison was alive.

Holbrook nodded back at her, agreeing with what she was saying before he pulled a new tab up on his laptop and typed the theatre in the search. Moments later the theatre website popped up on the screen with an address and a telephone number.

Carly quickly took a seat down on a chair beside him whilst he picked up the phone and dialed the number that they had gotten from the website. She bit on her bottom lip anxiously, her chin rested on her palm where her elbows were rested on the surface and her legs bounced in anticipation, as they waited for someone to pick up the phone. That someone they had hoped would be Alison or someone who might have known where she was.

She could just about make out a high pitched female voice down the other end of the line from where she sat, Holbrook's eyes instantly darted over to Carly's who was staring at him with wide eyes. Someone had definitely answered the phone. And that someone sounded a lot like Alison.

"Hello?" Holbrook repeated the female's words after hearing her say hello and ask if she could hear him. Although she was unaware that he was actually calling her. "Alison?"

The line went silent causing Carly to raise her eyebrows up at the detective questionably as to ask what the hell was going on. He ignored the look the young woman beside him was giving him and within no time he flung up onto his feet, the phone still tightly clutched to his ear.

Carly's heart began to thud in her chest as she witnessed Holbrook's reaction making her body fill with nerves and a million thoughts running through her heard as to who was on the other end of the line. She had never gotten this involved with an investigation before; that the nerves she was feeling was also mixed with excitement. But by the strange behaviour Holbrook was showing, she knew it clearly had to be that certain someone.

It wasn't long before the line went dead and Holbrook quickly leant over to the machine, redialling the New York Police Department. Carly got up from the seat she was in and went over to her desk area to tidy up the folders, her eyes rolling over to Holbrook every few seconds to see if she could get any clue as to what was happening.

"The NYPD needs to send someone by to the Fitzgerald theatre on West 44 Street, I think we have a 10 20 on Alison DiLaurentis" Holbrook instructed the person on the phone before he thanked them and hung up.

Carly stopped what she was doing when she realised how distressed he looked, he ran his fingers through the front of his hair and then over his face as he exhaled loudly.

"Are you ok?" Carly asked with a hint of concern in her voice as she turned to face him with the folders in her arms. "What's going on?"

"Turns out we were correct on there being a link to the theatre and Alison" Holbrook answered.

"Was that her on the phone?"

He simply nodded back and turned his attention to the desk in front of him which was a scattered mess of different police reports, newspaper articles, important documents and a paper with random notes on that all were a part of the case. A case that had happened to once been a missing person case, then a murder investigation and now they could officially come to the conclusion she had been alive this whole time.

Carly swallowed harshly at the realisation that Alison had never gone missing or gotten killed that summer. It had all been a complete lie. God knows where she might have been in the past three years and what things she could have been up to.

She always knew not to mess with Alison, she had seen it at school the way her peers would be afraid to go near her or do something to anger her because they knew if they got on her bad side, she would make their life a living hell.

Apart from that, Carly wasn't aware of what Alison was really like, she had never gotten the chance to get to know her and she didn't think she ever would. The only time she would ever see Alison, was out of town at night with some of their shared acquaintances or when she was hanging around Rosewood, where she would give Carly disapproving looks from a far, it was like she knew something about her that would ruin her.

And maybe just maybe, Alison returning back here scared Carly just that little bit.

A couple of hours had passed since the phone call incident, detective Holbrook had been in and out of the office during this time, making phone calls and meeting with other officers in the station.

Carly on the other hand, was observing from across the room trying to keep up with what was going on, wishing that she could get herself involved somehow and work with the team. Although, due to her lack of experience and the fact she still had a lot to learn, she was busying doing all the admin tasks that had been left for her.

Half way through the time, Holbrook advised her that she should go get herself some coffee and take a short break since there had been a lot going on already for her to take in, she had only just moved back here and was already starting her first shift.

Leaving the station and making her way down the steps, she wrapped the middle of her coat tighter around her body as the breezy night crept upon her as it was nearing the end of the day.

Pulling out her cell phone, she found herself smiling when she saw a message from her dad wishing her good luck for her first shift and that he was so proud of her. She had been waiting a long time to do something that her dad was proud of. She was happy that it was also something she enjoyed and he had been backing her all the way for it. Without him in her life, she didn't know if she would have been so determined and willing to come back to Rosewood to become a detective.

He had been spectacle on her return, he had doubts and he was apparent on making these clear to Carly when she began to apply for jobs in her final year at college. She knew he was only trying to protect her and do what's best for her but she had grown up a lot since she was last in town. She was a lot more mature, emotionally stronger, was aware of her behaviours and was completely focused on her goals. The old her had been a completely different person, someone she didn't even recognise and didn't even understand how she got to a place like that.

Bringing the coffee cup up to her lips, she took a sip out of the warm liquid and with the other hand typed a reply to her father who was also working his late shift at the hospital. He had been a doctor for the past 25 years and she had been use to him working nights ever since she was a kid. She use to have to go stay with a friend most nights when she was young, but the times she did spend with her dad was always ones she was grateful of. She couldn't imagine growing up without him.

Obviously, when she hit her teenage years and was in high school, she didn't need adult supervision at night or alone in the house. She could go and do as she pleased, she had her own schedule and her dad was unaware of the things she got up to. Some would blame him for her down fall, but he was the one to bring her out of her mess. He basically saved her before it was too late and for that she would never blame him for not being around much.

Finishing off her coffee, she slipped her phone back into her coat pocket and made her way back inside the building. She passed by the officers who were talking in a circle, Holbrook amongst them and she flashed him a brief smile when he looked over at her, as she tossed her cup into the trash can.

Going inside her new office, she slipped off her coat and laid it across the table before taking a seat. The list of tasks that was left for her to do had been getting smaller as she crossed off the ones that had been completed, meaning she only had to put a few files away in the cabinets and be on guard in case she was needed anywhere else for the rest of her shift.

Picking up the files, she went over to the filing cabinet and began to put them in their correct places, making sure she was keeping the place organised and that things could be found easily if they needed to be.

The sound of footsteps now entering the room caused her to turn her head slightly to see who it was and found herself smiling again when Holbrook glanced over at her the exact same time.

"Any news?" she asked him noticing the distressed look on his face. It couldn't have been easy for him just having to wait around. At least she could keep herself busy.

"No not yet." he answered her as he hung his head low.

Carly kept quiet not sure what to say back to him since she had never been so close on working on a case like this. She knew that one day she couldn't wait to be solving similar cases by herself with the help of a team beside her.

But right now, she didn't know what to do or say back to him. She knew he had way more experience, skills and knowledge than she did. He had probably been in this for quite some time now, so didn't need her input unless it was asked.

Placing the last folder into the cabinet, she closed the metal storage unit up and turned on her heel, slowing wondering back over to the desk. However, she stopped in her tracks when she saw five figures emerge in the station, from where she was stood she could make out that they were a group of females, one that definitely happened to have long blonde hair like Alison.

Holbrook's head instantly shot up after sensing the trainee detective come to a halt but also the group of footsteps coming from the foyer. Quickly he walked out of the open door way and into the middle of the station where the girls were.

The exhausted and frightened long dirty blonde haired girl came forward to meet with him, whilst the other four girls stood behind. "Are you detective Holbrook?" she questioned timidly.

"I am." he responded simply, due to shock that he was seeing Alison right in front of his eyes.

"I think you've been looking for me." Alison paused taking a breath. "I-I-m…"

Before she had the chance to introduce herself Holbrook cut her off "I know who you are." His eyes rolled over to the girls behind her and back to Alison. "I'm glad you're with your friends. Welcome home."

Alison glanced down at the bag hanging on her wrist and fiddled with it uncomfortably as Holbrook continued to speak "I'm guessing you have a lot to tell me, maybe we can begin with the night you disappeared."

Her head quickly snapped back up to him where she zipped her bag up firmly "I didn't disappear, I was kidnapped." She paused shakily causing Holbrook to pull a confused face. "I was kidnapped and held hostage for two years." Alison turned her head round to face the girls behind her. "And if it weren't for my friends, I wouldn't be standing here, they saved my life."

The other girls looked uneasy at Alison's confession to the detective causing him to frown back at them. He couldn't quite believe what she was saying since things didn't seem to add up. He knew he had to be careful with this since it was a sensitive subject and Alison looked clearly distressed.

Turning his head round he looked over at Carly who was sat at her laptop screen trying her best not to pry on what was going on. "Miss Monroe, could you come out here for a minute?" he instructed loudly from the foyer, before walking over to the front desk to speak to another office.

"Monroe?" Aria the small dark haired girl repeated quietly, causing the other girls to frown and Spencer to look between the door way of the office and Aria. They only knew of one Monroe.

Taking a deep breath, the young woman emerged from around the corner of the office like Holbrook had done moments before. Aria and Spencer's eyes widened as the woman came over to them, her heels clicking against the laminate floor as she did so, and a shy smile formed on her lips as she came over to the girls.

"Carly, I didn't know you were back in Rosewood." Aria exclaimed surprised to see the girl she had admired as a young girl back in their home town.

"Yeah we had no idea you worked at the station." Spencer, the youngest of the Hasting's family added, just as stunned to see her.

Before she even had the chance to answer them, detective Holbrook came back over and ushered the girls over to another office to the left of them. As they wondered past her, Carly couldn't help but feel uneasy when Alison shot her a glare which made her skin crawl. She had never liked the way she looked at her.

On the other hand, Aria and Spencer shot Carly a friendly smile, both of them still trying to get their heads around Carly being back in town and they both had been unaware of it. They never understood why she had left so suddenly that summer, but had known she had dreamt of going to law school after her last summer in Rosewood as a senior, so just presumed that was the reason why she had left.

If only they knew the real reason.

Detective Holbrook waited a minute as the girls went inside the other room, leaving him and Carly alone together in the foyer. Once they had all gone inside, he motioned his body fully towards her and she did the same to him.

"I just wanted to say thank you for your effort and help tonight, I'm going to clock you off early so you can go home and get some rest." he told her causing her to frown.

"Are you sure? I mean I don't mind staying to help out." Carly offered with a hint of surprise in her tone that he was letting her leave early on her first shift.

"You've been more than helpful tonight." he replied softly, laying his hand on her shoulder and giving it a small squeeze. "I think we're going to be a great team."

Carly couldn't help but chuckle lightly at his words, feeling like he was maybe flirting with her or something, since he had already made physical contact, had been way too nice to her and been staring at her for most of the night.

"We'll see." she teased back without even realising it as he pulled his hand away.

"Good night, Miss Monroe." Holbrook flashed her a charming smile before he walked away into the office and closed the door behind him, ready to crack on with questioning the girls.

Rolling her eyes at his charismatic personality, she went back into the office to retrieve her coat and bag, as well as logging off the laptop and tidying up her desk area. Once she had done all of that, she exited the station making sure she wished the other offices a good night before she left.

Outside, she carefully made her way down the steps and onto the side walk, where her car was parked against it on the road side a few yards away. She found herself sighing happily when she brought out her keys from her pocket and pressed the unlock button causing the sound of her car unlocking to fill the empty and quiet street.

It was nearing midnight; the plane journey over to Rosewood had been exhausting enough that she crashed as soon as she got to her brand new apartment last night. Then for most of today she had spent organising her closet and cupboards, arranging furniture and adding the final touches to the space until she got the call from the station.

Exhausted wasn't even in the word to describe how tired she was feeling right now, her bed was definitely calling her name, where she would go to as soon as she arrived home and would stay till she had her next shift at the station.

She had been thankful that her first shift had actually gone ok apart from the couple of slip ups along the way, it was expected but she felt confident she could do this and that this had been the right decision for her. She had no regrets about this.

Opening up the driver's side door, she leant down into the car and chucked her bag onto the passenger seat. As she did so her eye caught something across the street making her chest tighten and an uneasy feeling to grow in the pit of her stomach.

Standing back up straight, her eyes widened when she looked over again at what had caught her eye. She felt her heart begin to thud loudly in her chest, her eyes widening as she read the number plate on the car parked on the other side of the street over and over again.

She couldn't believe already that she had ended up being so close and right in the middle of getting spotted of the one person she had promised to not just her dad, but to herself to stay away from.

But there sitting across the street was that familiar car, the silver Volvo she had been in a number of times when she had snuck out of her house late at night for a late night drive to get out of town. She could have recognised it from a mile away. It was something she probably would remember for a long time.

But what the hell was it doing here so late at night and with the driver nowhere to be seen?

All she could feel was numbness and fear that everything she had toughened herself up for, could be completely broken just by the smallest of things and she wasn't as strong as she had thought.

Maybe just maybe, Carly did have some regrets about her move back to Rosewood.

 **Author note: I am really excited about this story since I have been a massive fan of PLL basically since it first started so I've had so many different fanfiction ideas that I wanted to share.**

 **Special thanks to lijahs girl, lula. , Maddell, mavricktag, padfoodCc, pinkcrazyness, RHatch98, sacco and SOAFan26 for either favouriting/following/reviewing the last part. I am so grateful so thank you guys!**

 **I really hope you enjoyed this part. Leave me a review with your thoughts I would love to hear what you think.**

 **xx**

 **P.S I plan to upload every/every other Thursday so please keep out for that!**


	3. Glimpse Of The Past

**Glimpse of the past:**

The next morning Carly woke up just before noon feeling much more refreshed and less tired than she had the day before. Once she had gotten home last night, she had literally crawled right into bed like she had planned to and slept the whole way through.

She was kind of surprised she had managed to sleep so well considering how anxious and worried she had been feeling when she had arrived back at her apartment last night. She was thankful though she was able to shut her thoughts off and allow herself to sleep, ready to take on another day of getting back into a routine.

Whatever she thought she saw or did see, she needed to forget and get over it, focus on what was important and not let slip herself back into bad habits. She had a lot to prove still to herself and her father, but as well everyone down at the station, where her next shift wasn't until that evening meaning she could stay at home until then.

Climbing out of bed, Carly who was dressed in a plain white tank top and a pair of monochrome checked cotton shorts, made her way out of her bedroom and into the open planned area of her apartment, which was one average sized space made up of her living room, dining area and a kitchen.

As you came in from the front door, to the left of you was the kitchen area which was quite small but roomy enough for one or two people to move around. There were cabinets above the work stations, with a hob and sink in the middle and a high rise oven close to where the door was. The refrigerator was placed in a gap between two stations and other cooking appliances like a kettle, microwave and toaster were placed along the stations neatly. The whole of the stations and the fridge were plain white, whilst the other appliances including the oven were silver. Also under the high cabinets were small lights that projected light into the kitchen area.

As you progressed further into the apartment, there was a small circular silver glass table with four white chairs around it and a vase of flowers in the middle, in which Carly's dad had brought over for her yesterday morning as a welcome home gift.

In the far end of the opened area was the living space, was a three seated white couch placed against the right wall with a spread of black and white cushions positioned tidily on top. Also a cream coloured blanket lay on one of the arms of the couch. In front of the couch was a white coffee table that had a few magazines and two candles on the top of it, as well as a remote to the TV and under the table was a white fluffy rug. Opposite the couch was a white wooden TV unit that stood an average sized black flat screen TV and in the corner of the room beside the window was a book case, filled with books, DVDs, cds and on top of it stood a few photo frames with pictures of memories. On the other side of the room beside the couch, but close to the window was a floor lamp and in the centre of the living area was a large light.

The whole apartment had the same floor and wall colour scheme; the walls were plain white throughout which gave it more of a modern feel. The flooring was light wood laminate flooring.

The scheme also flowed through into Carly's room and the only bedroom of the house, since she had only purchased a one bedroom apartment with an ensuite, since she was going to be the only one living there. Although the flooring in her room was carpeted cream but the laminate still applied in the ensuite.

Her bedroom was very similar to the other area of the apartment as it was still neutral. Her bed was situated in the centre of the room against the back wall; it consisted of a large beige headboard, with plain white sheets and two white pillows, as well as a number of smaller beige pillows and a beige fluffy throw on the end of the bed. On either side of the bed were two glass table stands with a tall lamp on both sides and other objects like her phone and a box of tissues scattered on the surface.

Opposite to that was a large dresser that had all of Carly's makeup, fragrances and hair products on top of it with a circular mirror attached to it. Beside that was a wide chest of draws that held some of Carly's clothing items. On the small bit of wall near the door way to the bathroom was a closet what also contained Carly's clothing items and had a shoe rack at the bottom of it with all her pairs of shoes.

Beside her window draped two pairs of long curtains, one see through satin white and the other was beige. Hanging in the centre of the room was a chandelier light and beside the window on either side was some more picture frames.

Carly was pleased with the place she got and the design of the space and furniture she had chosen. It was her first official place ever. She wanted to make it the best it could be and have it exactly how she wanted it since the past three years she had been living with her dorm mates on the school campus. Before that she had been living at her dad's place in her old room which she hadn't even visited since she had been back to Rosewood.

Her dad and her agreed for her to get the best start she could in Rosewood, that she would start fresh in her own place, where she would have responsibility over it and wouldn't have her past creeping up on her all the time. She did plan on going to her old house though, to see her dad and have dinner with him at least once or twice a week when he wasn't working late at the hospital.

Going over to the kitchen area, Carly flicked on the kettle so she could make herself a coffee, a strong caffeine drink was definitely needed especially when she was working late again tonight.

As she waited for the water to boil, she got out a bowl out of one of the cupboards and took a box of cereal out of the other before filling the bowl with the breakfast cereal. Once she had filled it, she put the box away and grabbed herself some milk out of the fridge, before pouring a small bit of the liquid into her food just as the kettle boiled.

Placing the milk back into the fridge, she got a spoon out of one of the draws and got a coffee mug out of the cupboard. Quickly she began making her coffee whilst taking a spoonful every few seconds out of her cereal.

Once her drink was made, she wondered over to the living area and took a seat down onto her couch, pulling her laptop out from under the seating area as she did so. As the device loaded up, she continued eating her cereal and left her coffee on the coffee table in front of her to cool down a little.

Logging on to her laptop, she went onto her emails and began to click on any new and unread ones, since she hadn't looked at her emails since she got a call from the station yesterday afternoon asking her to come in. Carly still couldn't quite believe she had already had her first shift at the station since she had thought she wouldn't have started until next week.

One of her emails in particular caught her eye and made her smile as she double clicked on it, so she could read it properly. It was from her friend back in New York, who she had gone to law school with and also shared a room with since day one.

Brooke had become Carly's best friend in the three years they spent together at the university. She had really gotten to know her and trust her a lot, she had been one of the most loyal and genuine people she had met in a very long time. At first she was very reluctant to tell Brooke about her past and what happened to her, but after 6 months of going behind her back to secret appointments and not being able to attend social activities, she knew she had to come clean.

At first, the young women had been surprised at Carly's story and were shocked that someone so young could go through what she had. But she began to understand why Carly was the way she is and why she would never leave the comfort of their dorm room unless it was to go to a lecture or if she needed to go shopping for any reason.

Brooke had been more than supportive than helping Carly get better and be able to be there for her whenever she needed someone. Her dad had even trusted Brooke with looking after Carly and reporting back to him if there were any problems or something had happened that he needed to know about.

If it wasn't for Brooke, Carly didn't know if she would have been able to feel so relaxed and focused at law school without her. She honestly did trust that girl with her life and Carly knew that Brooke would never judge her for any of her past mistakes. Brooke was one of her only and true friends.

Leaving New York and coming back to Rosewood had been a major step for Carly, but Brooke had encouraged her and backed her all the way despite how far apart they would be and how much she would miss having Carly around, she knew that she was passionate, motivated and perfect for the job. Brooke knew Carly would become the best detective the town would ever have because she had actually wanted to solve the crimes, rather than dodge them like most detectives in this town.

The email Brooke had sent wished Carly well in her new job after Carly's dad had text Brooke to inform her that Carly had already. Brooke was also glad that she had landed safely and was settling nicely into her new home. She also promised that if she ever needed her for whatever reason that she was only a phone call away and that she would visit soon.

Finishing of her bowl of cereal, she typed out of a reply to her friend, thanking her for her words and agreeing to that she would call her if anything did happen, but assured her that it wouldn't because it was different this time. Carly had grown up; she was more mature now and aware of what she was doing. She wasn't some silly teenager anymore.

After responding to the email Brooke had sent her, Carly deleted some junk mails and replied to a few more concerning work and banking. Once she had done, she turned her laptop off and placed it on top of the table before picking up her coffee to drink.

A few hours later, Carly had cleared away her breakfast things and began to slowly get ready for work; she had even had a phone call with Lieutenant Tanner who ran some tasks she had to do later on in the day by her and said how pleased she was to hear how her first shift went.

Due to the recent events in the Alison DiLaurentis investigation, Tanner told her how busy the station was today and advised her that she or Holbrook may not be around to support her, so it would be best if she could work independently whilst everything was going on.

This was completely fine with Carly since she didn't mind and believed that she would cope on her own, but it also meant that she wouldn't have to feel like Holbrook was questioning her on her where abouts that summer and she didn't have to put up with his attempts at flirting with her. It hadn't gone unnoticed to her yesterday that he had been staring at her on more than one occasion and that he had even flirted with her a few times, making her question if he was attracted to her or it was just his way of being friendly.

Stepping out of the shower, she wrapped a large white towel around her body and made her way through into her bedroom, where she had her work attire already laid out on the bed in front of her. It consisted of a white with black strap camisole top and black tailored cigarette pants. She was going to wear the same coat she did yesterday, her grey duster coat and for shoes she was going for some plain velvet black flat loafers.

Drying herself off, she changed into her outfit and went over her dresser to do her hair and makeup. Like yesterday again, she kept her makeup subtle and her hair in the same style as she had it yesterday.

Just as she had finished applying a nude lipstick to her lips, her phone began to buzz and vibrate on her bedside table. Getting up from the stool she was perched on, she went over and grabbed the iPhone, the screen lighting up with one new message.

As usual, it was her dad checking in on her and asking her if she was ok before he headed to bed for a few hours and then begin his next shift at the hospital, being a surgical doctor was very time consuming, Carly was familiar with this from how much time her dad spent working at the hospital throughout her childhood.

Pressing the call button on his contact, she placed the cell phone up to her ear and waited for the person on the other line to answer. A few seconds later, the ringing stopped and a voice answered on the other end "Hey sweetheart."

"Hey Dad." Carly greeted him trying to hide the hint of annoyance in her tone. "I know you're worried about me but honestly I am fine."

"I know Carly, I just can't get help it." He sighed knowing he was probably bothering her. "You're my little girl, it's what I do."

"But I'm not that little girl anymore, I'm twenty one years old and I can take care of myself." She answered back taking a seat down on the top of her bed.

"I know I know I know." he rambled and Carly could just imagine him shaking his head as he did so. "I just want to make sure you're settling in ok and that you're feeling alright, you're in that apartment all by yourself."

"Yes Dad and it was your idea that I got a place of my own in the first place." She reminded him, whilst rolling her eyes.

She loved her dad and all, he had been so good to her the past few years with everything she had been through but he could be over protective of her and paranoid about her, that it sometimes drove her crazy. He said he trusted her but why couldn't he show that he did rather than checking in on her all the time?

"And I don't regret that."

"So trust me on this, I am fine and everything is fine. I'm settling in to my new home fine, my shift went well and I'm more than excited to go back to work again today." She explained to him getting up from her bed before she picked up her bag, shoes and coat making her way into the main area of her apartment.

"I know Carly and I am so proud of you." He sighed before letting out a light chuckle knowing he just needed to let go. "I promise I'll learn to trust you more."

"Good" she copied his sigh as slipped her feet into her loafers unsteadily, due to her other hand being occupied by her phone. "Look I'm going to head out now to work, I'll speak to you soon, Dad."

"Have a good shift Carls"

She smiled after hearing her dad call her the nickname he had used for her ever since she was a little girl, he was the only one to ever call her that and every time she heard it, even now in her twenties she couldn't help but break out into a smile.

"I love you" Carly told him before he told her he loved her back and ended the call to go to sleep, whilst Carly made her way to work.

She slipped her phone into her bag; carefully she put her arms through her coat and took her keys off one of the units in the kitchen. Once she was ready, she made her way over to the front door, opening it up and stepping out into the small hall of her apartment block to lock up.

Her apartment was only one of four of the apartments situated in the block, which she was pretty pleased with since she only had one neighbour next door and then two downstairs, who she hadn't spoken to yet but the middle aged lady next door had welcomed her with open arms when she moved in the other night.

Thankfully the people who did live in the same block as her weren't around when she was last here, they were all new from different states, over here for jobs or to study at the local colleges, meaning no one knew about her or her past, meaning she didn't have to put a front up to them, she could just be her new self without any questions or accusations.

As she hopped down the last step of the stairs what lead up to her apartment, she pulled open the main front door and stepped onto the street, where her car, a white Chevrolet Malibu was parked against the curb a few yards down from the door.

Unlocking her car, she climbed into the driver's side, chucking her bag down onto the seat beside her as she did so before she placed the key in the ignition and closed her door. She started the engine up, pulling on her seat belt over her and took hold of the steering wheel in both of her hands.

Once she had accelerated away from the apartment block, she began her journey to the station which was about a ten minute drive from her place. She was excited again to be heading back to the station to begin her second shift already within twenty four hours meaning she was another step closer of reaching her dream career.

As she pulled up outside the police station, she parked her car in the same space she had yesterday and was going to claim it as her own. She grabbed her bag as she exited the car and began her way up the steps that lead to the entrance of the building, locking her car with her keys as she did so.

A couple of cops walked out of the station as she approached the doors, they flashed her smile as they held open the doors for her and she thanked them before slipping past them.

Upon her entrance, a group of cops were crowded around in a circle in the foyer like they had been last night when Holbrook had notified them of Alison actually being alive. Again, just like last night Holbrook was stood in the centre talking to them seriously about something in which a few of the cops were contributing to, something about the case Carly presumed.

Hearing the sound of her heels hitting against the floor, Holbrook turned his head her way and she caught his gaze, his lips turning up into a mischievous smile when he saw her and she couldn't help but bow her head and her cheeks to flush pink after seeing him look at her like that.

He had definitely been flirty yesterday but she didn't expect him to be the same again today especially as soon as she arrived by giving her the most charming smile he could possibly do. She didn't know whether to be creeped out he was hitting on her so much or taking it as a compliment? She hadn't had this much male attention in a very long time so couldn't help but doubt how he was being towards her.

Quickly she made her way into the office she had been working in yesterday, before slipping off her coat and putting it away with her bag to get stuck into the work she had left for her by Tanner, a great way to shake off her embarrassment.

As she switched on her laptop and made herself comfortable at her desk, Holbrook came into the room causing Carly to gulp and avert her eyes anywhere but him after realising he was already staring at her from across the room.

"Nice to see you again, Miss Monroe." He told her picking up some folders and paperwork off his desk causing her head to slowly lift her head up to look at him.

"Uh yeah, you too." she responded quietly laying her elbow against the table and she began to awkwardly play with the back of her earring nervously.

She couldn't quite believe that Holbrook was making her so uneasy already today when hours before she had been teasing back with him when he had sent her home, completely fine and getting on with him well.

However today just seemed like a different story, she felt like he had some power over her which was true in some sense, he was the detective she had been assigned to work with on a training level, meaning he basically reported back to Tanner on how she was getting on and if she wasn't pulling her weight, he could basically get rid of her.

But after the questioning last night which caused her to nearly have a panic attack and the long stares he had been giving her, it seemed to make her feel like he wanted something much more than just a companion he worked with.

"Tanner told me that you are aware of how busy we are today." She nodded back at him unable to speak. "So don't expect me to be in the office much today, if you need anything major and I'm not in, just drop me a text and I'll try get back to you."

"Thanks." she managed a smile at him as he returned the gesture, picking up more pieces of paper off the desk, Alison's name bold and clear in most of them, making Carly curious. "How is the investigation going anyway? Where are you up to?"

"Not very far, Alison's father turned up during the interview last night, so I had nothing else to do than let her go home to her family and not integrate further for the time being," he explained placing the papers into a file "I emailed you across a report of the on goings if you want to take a look to keep updated. I know things round here can sometimes work at different paces, so when things do start to move quickly, it is hard to keep up especially when you're new to this."

"Of course I get It." she nodded her head at him as Holbrook slipped the files under his arms.

"I will tell you one thing for now, something is very mysterious about all of this, and it doesn't seem to make any sense." Holbrook admitted to her causing her to frown at him pushing him to continue. "All I'm going to say is, whatever the hell happened that summer, changed everything."

Hearing his words caused Carly to swallow harshly and her stomach to drop; she couldn't help but feel like Holbrook knew something about her. But surely he couldn't have, there was only a select few who knew about what happened the last weekend of that summer. He had to be completely referring to Alison on this since the case was all about her and had nothing to do with her at all.

Holbrook left the room after his theory, leaving Carly alone to dwell on what really did happen that night when Alison went missing or was 'kidnapped' as she had corrected the police last night. She hadn't been anywhere near that area of Rosewood when it happened. It was all a complete blur to her and she wishes that she was actually around that night, so she could have the answers and solve this case.

But it wasn't that easy, nothing ever was that simple, even in a place like Rosewood.

Carly had been working way over 5 hours doing a variant of different tasks what Tanner had left her to do, ranging from putting away files to researching about past kidnappings in Rosewood and the surrounding. Since she had started her shift, nothing had changed regarding the investigation. Holbrook had been popping in and out of the station all night, sometimes even bringing a few cops to accompany him and even Tanner had turned up a couple of hours ago to see how Carly was getting on, as well as begin her own shift.

It was nearing 10pm, when a tall chestnut coloured haired and blue eyed cop came into the office Carly was working in and notified her that she could take a break now since she had been working not stop all evening.

Slipping her arms into her coat, she grabbed a few dollars out of her purse and exited out of the office, heading over to the coffee machine in the foyer of the station. Unlike last night, it was quiet in the station, the receptionist who had signed Carly in yesterday and brought her over to Tanners office was typing away on her computer screen, the cop who had told Carly about her break was talking to another detective quietly on the other side of the room, the other offices were locked and dark, like no one was in them, like everyone else was out working.

Although, Tanner's was the only office with the light on, the blind was shut on the door and the window, meaning she must have been working in private tonight, not wanting to get disturbed by anyone.

Slipping her coins into the machine, she pressed a few buttons on it and placed one of the coffee cups under the dispenser, a few moments later the steaming liquid poured out of it and began to fill the cup.

Once it had reached the top, she brought the cup away from the machine and up to her lips, where she blew on the hot coffee trying to cool it down before she took a sip. Spinning around on her feet, she planned to make her way outside to get some fresh air and check her messages, to see if she had any more from her dad checking up on her or if he was going to keep his promise.

Just as she was about to take a few steps forward, the station doors flung open, a group of four cops stumbled in with detective Holbrook behind them, by the look on their faces and the way the cops were rushing over to Tanner's office door, she could tell that something had happened.

Holbrook didn't even acknowledge Carly as he brushed past her, making his way into their office and from her view she could see him slipping on a jacket and gathering some type of weaponry out from one of the locked draws, making her heart pound with fear as to what the hell was going on.

Her eyes darted over Tanner's office door, which was now opening and the officers from before came jogging out and quickly hurried outside again. Moments later, Tanner emerged out from the office, her eyes meeting with Carly's as she did so making her raise her eyebrows up at the young women.

"W-W-what's going on?" Carly asked quickly as Tanner passed by her and went over to the reception desk, Carly came to stand behind her confused.

Once Tanner had finished speaking with the woman at the desk and Holbrook had ran past them heading back outside, she spun around to face Carly and gave her a daring smirk. "Miss Monroe, how does it sound to join me at a crime scene?"

Carly couldn't help but widen her eyes at Tanner's proposal and tilt her head slightly even more confused "You want me to accompany you?"

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't want you to" she replied back smartly turning around and walking over to the exit, leaving Carly nothing left to do than follow her with a hundred different emotions and thoughts running through her head.

She couldn't believe she was getting the chance to go to a crime scene already, to investigate and observe what was going on so early on in her training. She knew it must have been a pretty big deal for Tanner and Holbrook to have to go, as well as a bunch of cops, who were all moving around frantically.

As they made their way outside night had fallen around them, the sky was dark; the town was light up by the street lights. Holbrook moved towards them once he spotted Carly and Tanner stopped to talk, Carly hanging loosely behind still trying to take this in. "Carly is tagging along, Detective Holbrook. I believe she is ready to have her first experience in this side of things, just keep an eye on her."

"Of course, Lieutenant." Holbrook agreed as she nodded her head at him making her way over to one of the cop cars parked out front, sirens flashing red and blue, engines already fired up and waiting to go. "You'll be riding with me, Miss Monroe."

Holbrook turned his body round, wrapping an arm around Carly's shoulders as he lead her over to his cop car parked on the side of the street. She quickly took a large sip of her drink before she tossed it in the garbage can and made her way over to the car. Of course she had to get stuck with him, but she wasn't complaining since she was having her first official experience of going to a crime scene, the first of many she hoped.

The two of them piled into his car, clicking their seatbelts on and Holbrook reversed away from the station, following the other two cop cars what were in front to their destination where the crime had took place that night whilst Carly stared out the window.

Carly couldn't help but feel nervous yet excited that she was getting this opportunity. She didn't know what to expect when she would arrive at the crime scene, which is what made her nervous, since it could be anything from brutal to minimal. However, she was excited to be involved with this and see how everything worked first hand, rather than from watching some documentary on a crime or something she had seen on the news.

Sensing her nerves, Holbrook turned his head slightly to her but making sure he kept his eyes on the road "Look you must be nervous after all it's your first time, I mean everyone's first time is nerve wracking, but trust me, Tanner wouldn't have told you to come if she didn't think you were ready."

She gradually looked at him from her seat giving him a small smile "I know, everything just seems to be moving so fast since I got here, I'm just trying to wrack my head around it."

"That's understandable." He replied nodding "But Tanner seems so passionate and sure of you, like she knows once you're qualified completely that you're going to be great at your job and I agree."

Carly laughed lightly under her breath, dropping her head slightly at his words, feeling overwhelmed by all of this. She had only been working for two days, yet Tanner and Holbrook had already told her how much they believed in her quite a number of times. She didn't quite know what to say since she had never really been praised so much in her life, but because it was about her career she couldn't help but use it as a confidence boost.

As the silence lingered over them due to Carly feeling awkward and not knowing how to accept or reply to his compliment, she decided to change the subject and focus on the events ahead. "So, what's the emergency?" Carly questioned interested.

"A dead body was found in a backyard." Holbrook answered turning the car into one of the streets.

Carly's heart sank after hearing that, knowing that someone out there had been harmed in some way and then just dumped in someone's yard, to be left to rot, she couldn't quite believe how disgusting and messed up some people were. She couldn't even begin to think how the friends and family of that person must be feeling right now.

"That's awful" Carly said shaking her head in disgust as she turned her head to look out of the window, her eyes widening in horror and her chest tightened when she realised what road they were now going down.

Sitting up slightly in her seat, she gripped hold of the arm rests either side of her, trying to steady herself, but she couldn't help but freak out as the car got closer to the end of the dirt track, the flashing blue and red lights from an ambulance and the rest of the cop cars were getting bigger, a sea of people could be seen huddled behind a tape what sectioned them off from the crime scene and the two houses what were situated at the end of the road came into full view.

Holbrook stopped the car behind the other cop cars, where Tanner and the other cops were already investigating what went on here. Carly on the other hand was still trying to come to terms with what she was seeing in front of her, the two houses she had visited countless of times when she had last been here were staring right back at her, nothing about them had changed, but the people and everything around them certainly had in the past few years.

Detective Holbrook took his keys out of the car and turned to face Carly, aware that her face read fear and that she was already shaking. He knew how scary it could be when you were this close with crime, but he believed she was strong and could do this. However, he had no idea the real reason Carly was actually freaking out about.

She didn't expect herself to come this close to the person who had flipped her world upside down already, she hadn't prepared for what she was going to say to them or how she was going to be able to be around them again after all this time and what happened when she left.

Somehow she hoped that he wasn't in town tonight.

She hadn't even thought about who could have been dumped in the back yard of one of these houses, was it someone who lived there or just a randomer? She couldn't quite come to grips with if it was someone from either family, since she had been involved with both a long time ago and if it was one of them, she knew she wouldn't be able to hold back her emotions.

But she knew she had to get out of the car, she knew she had to act brave and not let whoever the hell lived in that house get to her. She hadn't been spending the past few years of her life trying to get over it, trying to build herself up for it to all come crumbling down on top of her. She knew she had to go out there and be the twenty year old trainee detective she was now, not the teenager she once was.

"You're going to be fine, stay with me. I'll be right beside you." Holbrook reassured her leaning over and laying his hand on top of hers on one of the rests.

Feeling the warmth of his hand on hers, she brushed away her negative and worst case scenario thoughts and faced Holbrook. She mustered up the most genuine smile she could before pulling her hand away from his and instead laying in top of the door handle, showing him that she was ready.

The pair of them exited out of the car, Carly much slower than Holbrook as she had only then closed the car door when he came to stand beside her. Giving her a look, Holbrook began to lead her away from the car and over to someone else.

She could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest and she had to shove her hands into her coat pockets as they continued to shake with nerves. Everything around her felt like it was moving in slow motion, the paramedics who were busying loading the body who Carly could not make out who it was yet onto a stretcher, Lieutenant Tanner was questioning a middle aged couple who she recognised to be Mr and Mrs Hastings, one of the homeowners of the two houses.

Carly spotted the group of girls who had not more than 24 hours before walked into the police station with Alison DiLaurentis, huddled together in horror and sadness over their face at the body which were being dealt with by the paramedics. She felt tightness in her chest seeing them looking so horrified, she couldn't even imagine how they must have been feeling right now especially when she guessed they must have been the ones who found the body. It seemed like death and disaster followed them.

She came to a halt when Holbrook had stopped in front of someone causing her to turn her body round to face them and away from the group of girls, she had been staring at before.

When she noticed who Holbrook was now stood with and questioning, her breathing hitched in her throat and that awful familiar feeling of dread hit her hard. The man still looked the same although he looked a lot more distressed and exhausted than when she had last seen him, the same grey hair scattered his head, his eyes were still the same green but had dark circles around them showing that tiredness.

She was thankful that Kenneth DiLaurentis hadn't noticed her there, because if he had she wouldn't know what to do or say to him. She hoped he wouldn't remember her or be too confused due to the events to make out it was her.

But that was the least of her concern, if Holbrook was quizzing him and Lieutenant Tanner was busy with the Hastings, that only left a few people of whom that body could have been, which only made Carly feel worse and could feel her anxiety, reaching its highest levels at the realisation that it could have been someone she had cared about.

Suddenly, everything seemed to get quieter, the talking between the cops/detectives and the witnesses came to an abrupt stop, everyone's attention turning to the body which was three quarters of the way zipped up in a body bag meaning you could see their face and their chest, was being wheeled towards the ambulance, passing by everyone as the paramedics wheeled away the loss.

Carly gradually spun on her heels as the stretcher got closer, her heart still pounding in her chest and her palms were sweating, she was completely freaking out now and didn't know if she could cope seeing the body. This was all too much for her right now. She wished she never agreed to come.

As the body came to a stop only feet away from where she was standing with Holbrook and Kenneth, Carly's heart sank when she saw who was lying lifeless and had been found in the Hasting's backyard. Her detective instincts kicked in as she noted the skin on the face of the body looked dirty like the victim had been buried alive, which would make sense with the location the body was found in.

Her previous feelings and thoughts of being worried were replaced with sorrow and all she could now think about was how that one person she cared about was going to cope with their mother's death. Jessica DiLaurentis was dead. Now she understood why Kenneth looked so distraught, after his daughter going missing, then being found dead and then turning up alive, no wonder this man was about to break.

Carly seeing like she was being no use to helping detective Holbrook, she made her way over to the girls who she thought she might be able to help since she had been their age once and knew two of them quite well in her younger days.

Just as she was about to approach them, Spencer wondered over to her mom and crashed into her arms, causing Carly to stop in her tracks and doubt her decision of going to help since she could never be able to talk to them like she used to, she had lost touch with everyone and everything in this town, it wasn't the same.

Staring down at the ground, Carly tried to calm herself down and let the feelings of anxiety pass through and out her body, as well as try to come to terms with who had lost their life, making the case even more complicated for the team.

From the side of the two houses, a figure stepped out of the shadows and came more into the centre of the commotion. Spencer's eyes flashed over to them as they made reappearance at the scene, her mother dropped her head low at seeing how pained the person looked, and their eyes were searching their surroundings taking in everything that was happening as the dead body was carried into the ambulance.

Shaking their head in disbelief that this was really happening, they shoved their hands in their jean pockets and turned round on their feet to walk away back into their house, but came to a sudden stop when they caught a glimpse of someone, someone they never expected to see.

The once long golden light brown hair was replaced with a dark brunette above the boob hair; the once innocent face was now stern, the hips of her body were curvier, but her body still remained slim, her style had changed drastically from casual to sophisticated, she looked more mature now, womanly and a lot better, as in health and wellbeing wise.

She had always looked good to him, there was no doubt about it but now after not seeing her in such a long time, everything was coming rushing back to him, all the old feelings and the memories they had shared together, it was the only thing about his past he actually hoped he never forgot.

Carly found herself frowning when she felt someone's lingering gaze on her, lifting her head up she rolled her eyes over to Holbrook, thinking it was him again since he had been looking at her so much recently. However her eyebrows depend when she saw he wasn't even looking her way and instead was talking with a couple of cops.

Spinning her body around quickly, her eyes met with the one person she had prayed she wouldn't be seeing that night. His eyes were glistening with hurt and sadness whilst hers were full of fear and guilt. It was like something was dragging her back to this place and him like a magnet which caused her to stop and just stare back at him, the same way he was, her breathing getting heavier as the heart she had calmed down, sped back up again.

A part of her wanted to run away and get out of there as fast as she could, so she didn't have to face him, but could she really deal with the questions from Tanner and Holbrook about her hasty exit, could she really do that to him after he had just found out his mother was dead. No way, she wasn't that person and never wanted to be.

The other half of her, the brave and attached part of her wanted to go up to him, tell him how sorry she was for his loss and to hold him in her arms, like they had done with each other many times before in times of need. But she had to keep reminding herself, she wasn't the same girl, he wasn't the same person, things had changed drastically and it wasn't that summer no more.

However, that didn't stop her from putting one foot in front of the other and she slowly began to march her way over to him. She couldn't believe she was actually doing this. She couldn't believe she was allowing herself to so easily to fall into his world again.

But Carly couldn't help it. Because when it came to Jason. She would do anything.

 **Author note: Thank you guys for reading. I hope you enjoyed this part. I appreciate all the reviews, favourites and follows I have gained since the last part. Special thanks to .104, Lily-potter789, Triggerfinger231, anni95, venna26, Dreamlessly17, tooschweedy, RHatch89 and mavericktag for the follows/reviews/favourites on the last part.**

 **Let me know your thoughts about this part and the slight Carly/Jason interaction. Any questions let me know.**

 **xx**


	4. Trust

**Part 4:**

The following morning, Carly was dressed in her sleeping attire, sat up her table with her usual breakfast choice of some cereal and coffee, her laptop was in front of her and the morning newspaper was beside it open on the first page.

Her coffee was definitely needed this morning after not getting in until the early hours of the morning, then not being able to fall asleep straight away due to the tossing and turning she found herself stuck in, her mind going into overload about different things, it was hard to shut it off. But she was doing everything in her power to stop it this morning.

Due to her living alone, Carly had the TV on one of the music channels to make the space she was living in not feel so lonely and for some actual noise to be heard in the quiet home. She hated how big a difference her living lifestyle had changed within a few days, going from living in a dorm with three other girls who were always talking about something, blasting their music loud and flicking in and out between classes to an apartment all by herself.

She didn't quite mind her own company, it helped her think a lot better and helped to clear her head when she was stressed, especially with all the work she knew was waiting for her later on at the station due to the new events that happened over the past couple of days. Tanner had already emailed her over a bunch of tasks for her to get on with and even proposed more once she had done them, making Carly aware that she had to concentrate today and get on with her job.

The sound of a knock at the door broke Carly away from her laptop and she dropped her spoon down into her bowl as the loud noise filled the apartment. Getting up from her spot, she wondered over to her front door and stepped up onto her tip toes to look through the spy hole at who was behind the door.

She found herself almost instantly rolling her eyes when she saw her dad stood there, dressed in a plain light blue shirt, tailored grey trousers and black shoes, a long black trench coat draped over his arm and his phone in his other hand. She thought he had promised to back off a little with the constant calls and texts, but turning up at her house in the morning was something she hadn't even thought he would do as an alternate.

Grabbing hold of the door handle, she pushed it down allowing the door to open up and she stepped aside, as a signal for her dad to wonder inside, which in seconds he did and came into the apartment and stopped a few inches away from the table, as she closed the door behind him and made her back to her seat.

"Look Dad I thought we were serious on this whole I'll give you space and learn to trust you thing." Carly retold him confused as she picked up her drink from the table not even bothering to look at him.

"That's not why I am here Carly" He said laying his coat over one of the chairs before taking a seat opposite her.

Her eyebrows furrowed together, her eyes tracing his face for any message as to what the hell was actually going on right now. She could see that he looked uneasy and was nervous about something. But Carly could not put her finger on what? If he was coming to tell her bad news, then she didn't want to hear it, enough had already happened in the past forty eight hours that she didn't need anything else going wrong.

"What do you mean?" Carly asked taking a small sip out of the steaming coffee.

He lowered his head down to towards his lap at her question, unsure of whether he should bring up what he was about to but he had now choice since she would probably find out anyway. She always did find out things, however hard he tried to keep it from her. No wonder she wanted to be a detective so badly.

Reaching into his left pocket, he pulled out a folded up piece of card and slowly unfolded it as he brought it up to the table for her to see. Carly watched him with questioning eyes as with the same speed he slid the card towards her, making her lean forward placing her coffee back down on the surface and took the card from him.

Spinning the card round, she took it off the table and held it in her hands bringing it closer so she could read it properly. Her lips parted slightly as she read over the information on the card, now understanding why her dad had looked so uncomfortable.

The card was an innovation as such to the funeral of Jessica DiLaurentis, a funeral that was happening in a couple of days already, being held at the local church and was welcoming members of the community to pay their respects to the very known women of the town.

Of course, Carly's dad was going to get an innovation addressed to him and his family, which only happened to be himself and Carly. But still, he had met Jessica a few times when she had come to the hospital for appointments but also just by being in the neighbourhood he had always sparked up a conversation with her, like he would with anyone who was worth his time, especially those wealthy and who stayed out of trouble.

"I can't believe they've already set a date." Carly murmured loud enough for her dad to hear as her eyes stayed glued to the card in her hands.

Her dad shook his head and let out a sigh, knowing that Carly would of course pick that out of everything, despite the fact that she had been invited also meaning he would have to choose whether or not to allow her to be around the one person he wanted her to avoid at all costs.

"Carly." He said softly taking the innovation out of her hands and slipped it back into his pocket without another word from her. "You know what this means, don't you?"

Carly stared at him from across the table as he brought his head back up to look at her with begging eyes that his daughter would refuse to even go to the event and that it was something she wouldn't even bother considering since they had promised each other they wouldn't get involved again.

She couldn't help but shake her head at him, her frown growing harder on her forehead and she had to bit her teeth down on her bottom lip to stop herself from letting the anger take over. She couldn't believe he actually came here to try and persuade her to not go. There was no way she was not going to go to the funeral. She had to go.

Carly scoffed loudly getting up from her chair, taking her bowl and coffee as she did so, suddenly losing her appetite as the feelings of anger took over. She stomped over to the kitchen and dumped the objects into the sink before laying her hands on either side of the station, trying to calm her breathing down.

"Carly sweetheart." her Dad called getting up from his spot and joining her in the kitchen, where he stood a few steps behind her.

"No Dad! Don't even bother." Carly told him drumming her finger nails on the metal sink.

"You're seriously can't be serious about going can you?" He asked her.

"Yes Dad, I am." she snapped back as she turned round on her feet to face him.

He saw the look of frustration on her daughters face and could tell by the tone in her voice, that she was clearly mad at him for trying to stop her from going to the funeral. But he had every right to make her not want to go since they both knew who would be there.

"Carly, we spoke about you staying away from him." Her dad pressed shaking his head with a sigh. "You told me you wouldn't get involved with him again and here you are planning on going to his mother's funeral."

"Yes Dad to pay my respects to the family. I'm not going to just step back to where I used to be, things have changed and I'm not the same person anymore, how many times do I have to tell you that?" she shot back at him the anger getting the better of her. She just wanted him to trust her.

"It's not you I'm worried about."

She blinked at him confused but by the look on her dad's face she could just tell who he was actually referring to. Something inside of her just wanted to retaliate back, defend the person he was singling out like she always had but she knew she couldn't do that anymore. She wasn't a part of their life so why would they care if she would stick up for them?

Folding her arms over her chest crossly, Carly brushed past her dad and over to the door area, not wanting to hear another word of this conversation. She was going and that was the end of it. No one could stop her. Not even her father. She was going to pay her respects and that would be it.

Yanking open the door, Carly stood behind it as her Dad turned to face her still in the same place. "I think it would be best if you left now." She suggested to him, not even bothering to look at him.

He went to protest but instead felt defeated; his daughter was older now and could make her own decisions. He couldn't stop her from going however hard he tried. Carly had her heart set on attending and he know that all he could now was accompany her to pay his own respects, but to also support her and make sure she didn't get anywhere close to that family.

Her dad exhaled loudly as he headed for the door and stepped out of the apartment, as Carly came out from behind and went to close the door. Their eyes briefly met as she began to slowly push it, both of them releasing that despite their differences, they both needed each other more than ever and they knew that once a few hours had passed, their little fight would be forgotten about.

Once her Dad had left and she had shut the door behind him, Carly made her way over to her couch and took a seat in the middle of it. She ran her fingers through the roots of her hair trying to steady her breathing since it got heavy due to her argument with her dad.

But for some reason, she couldn't stop thinking about last night, about what happened when she got to the crime scene, when she saw the body roll past her on the stretcher, the sorrow she felt when she recognised the deceased, the feeling of her heart when she saw him again and how badly she wanted to go approach him, to tell him how sorry she was for his loss.

 ** _~ Flashback ~_**

 _Carly's heart pounded rapidly in her chest, her movement was slow but you could see from the determination on her face that she was not going to stop going over there to see him, despite how wrong it would have been for her regarding her job, all the hard work she had put in to get herself better and going against her dad's wishes. But she needed to see him. She couldn't just leave him there when he looked so lost._

 _Jason shifted on his feet as he saw Carly approaching him, a shocked and surprised expression broke out on his face to even see her there. He thought he must have been seeing's things due to the news of his mother's death that had shook him, he thought he was hallucinating or something as she continued to walk closer._

 _He had no idea Carly was back in town. He never thought that she would even come back after everything what happened. He thought that she was gone for good and that her father would never allow her to come back despite him still living here, since Jason always saw him driving to work when he was in town._

 _But yet, here she was right at the scene, it was like she had never left and was just coming over to see him late at night like she always use to when she was a teenager. But this wasn't that same year, it had been three years and a lot had happened. He didn't understand what she was doing here though, he thought that maybe she had come to visit Melissa Hastings, since they used to be friends or maybe apart of him had hoped she was coming to see him, but just got caught up in all of this._

 _However as a loud call of her name stopped Carly in her tracks, causing her to freeze along the path way she was walking on and turn her head slightly to the side to see who was calling her from behind._

 _Jason watched on desperate that she was going to come over to him and ignore whoever the hell was calling her. Tracing his eyes off from Carly and over to the older women who had called her, he frowned when he saw Lieutenant Tanner trying to catch the young women's attention. What the hell did Tanner want with Carly?_

 _"Miss Monroe." Tanner called her name again causing Carly to finally turn round to face the women. "We're leaving now."_

 _Carly felt her chest tighten at the Lieutenants words knowing she wasn't going to be able to apologise to Jason like she would have liked to, meaning it was going to be so hard to just walk away again like she had those summers ago and would probably never be this close to him again._

 _She glanced over her shoulder at where Jason was still stood in the same place and was staring at her tensely, unsure of what was going on with her. Taking a deep breath, she plucked up the courage and looked away from him, before flashing a small smile in Tanner's direction and made her way over to join the rest of the police force to head back to the station._

 _Leaving Jason nothing left to do than witness her walk away from him right before she even had the chance to talk to him. He couldn't help but feel confusing as he watched her join with the team of Rosewood Police, something he didn't seem to understand at first but came very clear to him when she opened up the passenger side door of one of the cars, where Detective Holbrook, the detective who was working on his sisters case climbed into the driver's side._

 _Carly was a part of the Rosewood Police now, like she had always wanted and had proposed to him many times before. He could always see the passion and determination in her eyes when she spoke about it. He thought it was a crazy idea since she didn't exactly hang around with the best behaved people. But he knew it was what she had always wanted._

 _As she placed her seatbelt round her body, Holbrook started up the engine of the cop car and began to reverse away from the crime scene. Carly who had finally calmed her nerves down now, turned her head one last time to look at the area they were leaving, her eyes going straight over to where Jason had stood minutes before._

 _However, he was no longer there and from in the distance heading towards his house, she could see him trudging back, his head hung low and his body hunched. She could only feel guilty for leaving him. But she knew she had to stick to her promise to her dad and herself. It had taken her so much effort and sacrifice to get herself better; she couldn't just throw it away again by getting involved with him._

 _She hadn't come back for him. She had come back to do her dream career. She had come back to help victims and solve crime. Jason was out of the picture a long time ago and it was best if it stayed that way._

 ** _~ End ~_**

A few days had passed since the incident with Carly and her father, they were both right about they got over their arguments quickly and were completely fine with each other within a couple of hours. He had backed off a little with the amount of messages and phone calls he would have with her throughout the day. But he still kept in contact a few times a day to see how she was getting on.

She appreciated that he was concerned about her but if she was going to be brave and stand on her own two feet, a little bit of distance would do her the world of good of reaching that goal.

Distance was one thing that Carly was going to have to become very familiar with, especially today of all days, since it was the morning of Jessica DiLaurentis' funeral and lucky for Carly she didn't have work till the afternoon so she could actually attend and not take a day off or miss the funeral.

She had wanted to go honestly to pay respect to Jessica DiLaurentis since Carly had met her a few times when she was over at the house or when she bumped into her on the street. She had always been a polite and friendly lady to Carly but she knew that deep down she didn't act like that to everyone, so she considered herself lucky.

As she exited out of the bathroom after using the toilet, she wondered over to her mirror attached to her dresser and examined herself all over in the reflection. She was dressed in a black short sleeved off the shoulder fitted at the top and flared out at the bottom mid-thigh length dress that hugged her curves perfectly and highlighted her small waist and on her feet sat a pair of suede black court heels. Her hair was down as usual, flowing in loose waves down either side of her face and her makeup was it usual but with a light pink lip.

Her hands travelled down to lay over her stomach, as she titled her head and stared at herself, trying to calm the nerves in the pit of her stomach, knowing she was going to be around him again. She understood that she needed to stay away from him and keep her distance from him during the service. She couldn't make the same decision she nearly made the other night by going over to him, a part of her was glad Tanner called her over when she did because it would have saved her from going backwards.

A knock at her front door broke her out of her thoughts and back into reality. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she turned away from the mirror and grabbed her black clutch bag off the end of her bed before wondering out of the room to get the door.

Her dad came into the apartment moments later, dressed in a black suit jacket, a white shirt with a dark purple tie, tailored trousers and some black brogues. He looked just as nervous as Carly did, knowing he was going to have to let his daughter be around the DiLaurentis son after all these years of convincing her to stay away.

Although, he was unaware Carly had already seen him since she had returned to Rosewood. He had no idea she had actually been at the Hasting's backyard them few nights ago where she had seen him stood there staring at her, just like she was staring back at him. Carly daren't mention that or the fact she was going to go over to talk to him. If he ever found out about that, there would be no way he would even let her leave her apartment to go to the funeral.

She hadn't been to many funerals over the course of her life thankfully. But the ones she had been to, including her grandma's when she was twelve hadn't been the best moments of her life. They weren't exactly the best type of events to go to. They were full of grief and sadness. Two emotions Carly tried her best to never let get to her.

"Are you ready to go?" Her Dad questioned her.

She simply nodded back at him as she took her keys off one of the kitchen units and headed over to the door with her Dad leading the way. Both of them ready to face the day.

After Carly had locked up her apartment, they made their way down the steps of her apartment block and outside to where her Dad's black jeep was parked against the road side. They both hopped into the car, belted up and within no time they began their journey to the church where the service was being held for Jessica.

The silence lingered for the whole way to their destination, as well as the nerves Carly was feeling being out properly in public for the first time since being back here, seeing all the people she had left who had witnessed her growing up and for being back in Jason's environment. She had to hold it together. She couldn't slip up or allow people to find out the real reasons why she left to abruptly. She planned to keep it that way.

The jeep pulled up outside the church around five minutes later, her Dad shutting off the engine and turning to face her. He found himself getting more anxious when he saw the same look of anxiety growing on Carly's face as her eyes trailed over to the church doors, where people were making their way inside, before she turned to look at him.

She flashed him the best reassuring smile she could in the situation they were in. Her dad knew how hard it was for her but he promised he would be there for her and he was going to be. He wanted everything to be as easy and normal as possible for his daughter.

Gradually the both of them climbed out of the car, Carly making her way over to the path where her dad was standing after locking the vehicle with his keys. He held out his arm for her to take in which she did before they slowly made their way up the church to join the rest of the people already gathered inside.

Carly could feel her heart pounding in her chest as they approached the large double doors and walked through into the entrance. Her eyes helplessly scanned the room for any sign of the DiLaurentis family but gave up when she couldn't see any of them anyway, meaning they had yet to arrive.

This made Carly exhale with relief that she could be seated before Jason arrived, meaning he didn't have to see her enter and realise that she was actually coming to his mother's funeral. She could hide amongst the crowd and hopefully not be spotted by him or anyone for that matter.

Her Dad lead her over to the row of seating second from the back on the left hand side of the church, he smiled briefly at a few people they brushed past recognising them from the neighbourhood and Carly couldn't help but low her head when they stared that little bit longer at her, like they were trying to digest that she was back in town.

The two of them took a seat down at the end of the row, her Dad made sure she sat at the end so she didn't have someone sit beside her knowing she would be uncomfortable with the idea of someone sparking up a conversation with her so early on in her return.

She unlinked her arm from her fathers as the rest of the people took their seats, waiting for the DiLaurentis family to arrive and for the ceremony to begin. Carly couldn't help but notice that she was the only person who was on the police force to actually attend the funeral, making her wonder why none of them had turned up here today to pay their respects as well.

All of a sudden, the chatter and noise from the groups of people seated in the rows of the church went quiet. The sound of footsteps could be heard on the wooden flooring, signalling that the DiLaurentis' had now actually arrived, meaning that it was time to say goodbye to Jessica but also time for Carly to lay low and stay away from Jason.

The ceremony lasted around 30 minutes with Kenneth DiLaurentis being the only member of the family to get up to say a short speech about his ex-wife but overall the service was lovely. After everyone had left the church, all the guests and the family headed over to the cemetery where the body was being laid to rest.

Carly and her father lingered behind the crowd, just like they had done the same in the church due to Carly and her Dad not wanting her to be seen by many people, especially one in particular. Once the service was over, people gathered around to express their feelings about the death of Jessica including those who were close to the family who were looking after them.

"Look I'm just going to go speak to Kenneth, tell him how sorry we are for his loss and that. Why don't you go wait in the car?" Carly's Dad suggested handing her his car keys in which she took from him.

"Sure." Carly mumbled as her Dad flashed a small smile at her before going past and over to Kenneth, leaving Carly with no other choice than to follow her Dad's instructions and get out of there before Jason would see her.

During the service inside and outside, Jason or any of his family had not noticed Carly's presents. She was grateful that they hadn't because she didn't want to cause any drama or turn any of the attention away from them and Jessica during the hard time. Carly wouldn't allow herself to be held responsible for that.

Making her way across the grass and back over to the car which was still parked against the road side, Carly kept her head down so she wasn't spotted by anyone since she seemed to be one of the few already making an exit away from the graveyard.

As she came over to her Dad's car, she found herself stopping beside the drives side when she saw Aria Montgomery making her way over to her, a shy smile on her face and her footsteps seemed to get slower as she got closer to the older girl.

"Hey." Aria greeted Carly feeling slightly awkward to be speaking to her again after so long of not being in contact with her.

When Aria was younger and when her parents went out for teacher conferences or to late night classes, Carly use to come babysit her and her younger brother Mike. That is how the two knew each other. Carly use to spend at least once or twice a week round the Montgomery's house in her teen years looking after the siblings. It was great for her since she was going to be alone anyway at her house since her Dad was always working late, so it meant she didn't have to be so lonely.

She really got to know the Montgomery sibling especially Aria who looked up to her as being like an older sister to her which suited Carly fine since she was an only child and never grew up with a brother or sister. Although, Carly and Aria lost touch when she no longer needed a babysitter as she got older and Carly was busy studying for her finals in senior year, the same year where everything seemed to be the year of the down fall.

"Uh hey." Carly replied as Aria stopped opposite her along the path way a couple of steps in front.

Carly knew her Dad had told her to go wait in the car whilst he spoke to Kenneth, but she knew her dad liked Aria as he still spoke to her family as they were a family friend. So she doubted that he would mind if she stopped to speak to her.

"So it's official that you're back then?" Aria asked.

"Yeah I guess so." Carly flashed a slight smile, still feeling nervous that her past could come up at any moment if it was to be questioned or Jason may spot her out in the open again.

"Well it's good to see you. You look so much older than I last remember you." The younger told her making Carly let out a light laugh.

"You think so?" Carly paused as Aria nodded with a grin. "So do you, you're in your last year of high school now, you've grown up so much."

"I know no more pink hair." Aria joked running her fingers through her hair as Carly nodded her head back knowing she was referring to when Aria had bright pink bits in her hair when she was embracing her punk days. Carly had thought it looked so cute and admired her rebellious ways.

"I miss that pink hair." Carly told her with a matching grin, her nerves from before going away ever so quickly around Aria.

"Really? Someone else has told me that before."

Carly blinked back surprised "Oh yeah who?"

Before Aria had the chance to answer Carly's question, her Dad appeared from beside them walking off the grass area and onto the pavement where they were stood. He frowned when he first saw Carly talking to someone but his features softened when he realised who. Although he knew they had to stick to their plan of getting out of there without anyone else spotting Carly.

"Hello Aria." He said taking the keys out of Carly's hand and unlocking the car door with them, ready to drive Carly out of there.

"Hello Mr Monroe." Aria said back watching as Carly quickly made her way round the car and over to the passenger side.

"Please call me John." He told her hopping into the driver's side and closing the door behind him, but winding down the window so he could say goodbye to the girl. "Sorry to leave so abruptly but I've got to head to the hospital and drop Carly home."

"Oh it's fine." Aria waved her hand in a kind manner "It was nice to see you again, Carly. And you too John."

"It was nice to see you too, Aria." Carly replied sincerely with a warm smile in her direction as her Dad copied his daughters gesture and pulled away from the road side, before making his way back to Carly's apartment at more than the average speed.

"That was nice of Aria and you to talk." John said after they were away from the church and down the main road of the town.

"Yeah well she happens to be the only person from my teen years that you'll actually let me talk to." Carly said back in annoyance.

"Carly we're not going over this again, are we? I allowed you to go to the funeral, didn't I?"

"Yes Dad you did" Carly sighed turning her head to look out the window as they turned down the road where her apartment was. She couldn't wait to get out of that car and away from him. "But still I was being kept on a leash like some dog."

"You know you can't just act like you never left Carly. You've changed way too much to let your past get the better of you again. I will protect you and keep you away from those people for as long as I possibly can."

"Of course you will, Dad because you don't trust me." Carly spat back at him.

She knew she shouldn't have been taking her anger out on her Dad but she couldn't help it. Ever since she got back from the crime scene last night, she couldn't forget how much she wanted to go and speak to Jason again. It was like something within her didn't want to leave him there all alone.

But she did. Maybe that's why she felt so angry for just walking away again. She never got the chance to say goodbye the first time. But now with her Dad watching her and making sure she stayed out of trouble, how was she ever going to get that goodbye she had always wanted?

 **Author note: I really hope you enjoyed this part and you are liking this story so far. I have so much planned and I can't wait to share it with you all.**

 **Special thanks to Lady Isabelle Black, .1884, redvelvetlover13, chibicheshire, Hannah1024, Jasmine Chyanne, KylieWinchester, Missdamagedgoods, MysticalLouis, supermanisactuallyclarkkent, stephaniesnapemafoy, Rhatch89 and Mavricktag for reviewing/favouriting/following since the last part.**

 **Let me know what you thought about this part and any ideas you have regarding the story. I really love to hear what you think.**

 **xx**


	5. The Goodbye

**The Goodbye:**

Her fingers pressed down on the back space agitatedly, what seemed like the tenth time in the past five minutes that she had done that action as she stared at the laptop screen, puzzled as to why she couldn't seem to put together a single sentence that afternoon at the station.

After her Dad had dropped her back at her apartment where she thanked him for the ride and slammed the car door as she exited the vehicle, she had took a long shower to try clear her head and get rid of any anger she felt regarding the recent events and her Dad. The emotions seemed to subside after the shower, from the time between leaving her apartment once she was changed to when she arrived at her office to start her shift.

After then, the anger she had felt returned as she began her first task of the day which was to write up a police report for Lieutenant Tanner of what Carly had witnessed over the two nights what involved Alison returning and when she joined the force at the crime scene at the Hasting's backyard. She had been working on the piece for at least three hours and had not gotten anywhere.

She didn't know if it was because she had to think back to the night when she had gone back to old territory, where old feelings and memories hit her like a train or because she just couldn't seem to concentrate after the fight she had with her Dad. She always felt terrible about those.

Exhaling loudly in the quiet office she was seated in, she leant back slightly and pulled out her notebook from her bag which was sat under the table. Flicking to a new page, Carly grabbed her pen off the desk and began to jot down the chain of events over the time period, starting with what happened first and then what happened after they left the backyard that night.

She thought if she did this, then it may make it easier for her to see things clearer and focus on what was important regarding the investigation, than what was currently going on in her life which was far less important than the serious case she had been assigned to work on.

She had to make this report accurate, informative and the best it could be because she knew how much Tanner and Holbrook were monitoring her every move. One slip up or mistake, she knew they would lose hope in her because it wasn't every day they let college students onto their force with so little experience.

Finishing off her notes, she turned back to her laptop and deleted the sentence she had already written as she planned to start fresh. Just as she was about to type out the first paragraph of notes into a sentence, the office door opened catching her attention and in came Detective Holbrook who was carrying a stack of files. He glanced over at Carly as he laid the files onto his side of the desk and she politely returned the gesture back at him.

After the night at the crime scene, she had been getting on with Detective Holbrook a lot better. Instead of making her feel like a bundle of nerves, he actually made her feel comfortable and she felt like if she ever needed any guidance or support, he would be able to give her that since he had been so supportive on the journey to the Hastings backyard. Also he had seemed to stop with the creepy staring instead he had actually gotten to know her without treating her like a suspect this time and had actually been making her laugh a lot. He actually seemed like a caring and nice guy, that Carly felt bad for thinking negatively of him before.

"You've been working in here for ages, why don't we head out for a break and grab something to eat?" Holbrook suggested unhooking his suit jacket from the chair before he slipped it on.

Carly rubbed her lips together thinking that if she took her break now without having done the report, it would make her more behind with the other tasks she had left to do. Yet she had been struggling to concentrate and she hadn't eaten since breakfast this morning, which was way over 7 hours ago. Having a little bit of food and drink may actually help her to focus better.

"You know what," Carly said standing up from her seat and bending down to get her bag. "I think I will take you up on that."

Holbrook grinned back at her in response before he checked his pocket for his wallet, as Carly shut the lid of her laptop and made her way over to the office door. Holbrook already now exiting out of the office, heading over to the exit of the station leaving Carly to close the office door behind them and catch up to him once outside.

The walk over to the Brew where they had decided to go to was a comfortable silence; The Brew was a popular coffee shop in Rosewood for many years now. Holbrook smiled his charming smile at the public walking past the two of them on the street which made Carly roll her eyes jokingly at his behaviour. He always had to be charismatic to the community since he was one of the newest detectives in this town and wanted to make a good impression.

Holbrook kindly held open the brew door for Carly as she headed inside first and Holbrook joined behind her. Her eyes scanned the boards on the top of the wall behind the counter, trying to decide what she should get to eat and drink, both things what sounded very appealing right now.

"Feel free to go first since I'm still deciding." Carly told Holbrook not taking her eyes off the boards as he nodded and stood in front of her as the young male barista behind asked for his order.

Once Holbrook had finished ordering, he turned his body round to face Carly causing her to turn her head away to look at him "And for the lady?" Holbrook asked.

Carly frowned back at him, confused at first as to what he was getting at but by the small smirk forming on his lips, she understood that he wanted to pay for her.

"Oh no it's fine. I'll order separately and pay for my own." She told him. She never did like the idea of someone paying for her own food or getting her gifts when she hadn't even done anything to do deserve them. She liked being independent.

"Don't be ridiculous." Holbrook ignored her comment and flashed a charming grin. "See it is as congratulation for getting the job."

She shook her head amused at the situation and agreed to accept the offer. "Ok I'll let you pay for me just this once, but this means I owe you."

"Nonsenses" He chuckled as she came to stand beside him and told the barista her order. "There's going to be other times when I treat you out to dinner like on our first date."

"You wish." She giggled back at him slowly getting use to his flirty comments with her.

Ever since she had started working at the station, he had been making flirty and suggestive comments every so often that made Carly laugh with amusement at how this guy could throw one in at any moment of conversation. Half the time she didn't know if he was actually being serious or just being kind to her. She kind of liked the attention she was giving him though, it made her time spent in the office a lot more enjoyable and he was great company to be around.

After a few minutes, the barista handed over their food and drink once Holbrook had paid. The pair of them wondered over to the two high tables closest to the counter which has a few stools surrounding it. Carly carefully hopped up onto the stool which was facing towards the counter whilst Holbrook took the seat opposite her.

Both of them laid their refreshments down on the surface in front of them, Carly had opted for a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich with a caramel vanilla latte whilst the Detective had gone with a turkey sandwich and a can of soda.

They began to tuck into their sandwiches, the conversation minimal between the two as they both were too busy filling their stomachs with food since they both had not eaten in a while, after working through lunch time and Carly was only one half an hour break through her shift since she was only doing 12pm-8pm that day.

Within five minutes, both of them had finished their food and were occasionally taking sips out of their drinks. Carly was kicking her legs under the table as the height of the stool meant she couldn't touch the ground as she stared into space whilst Holbrook was busy on his phone.

A few seconds later, the sound of his phone ringing and vibrating broke Carly out of her daydream and onto Holbrook who was slowly standing up to take that call.

"I'm just going to go take this call. I'll be back in a moment." He told Carly in which she nodded back at him as he answered the phone, wondering over to a quieter area of the brew away from everybody else and round the corner so he was hidden, since it seemed like an important call.

Carly turned her head away from Holbrook who was nowhere to be seen now and back over to the side of the room she was in. Picking up her coffee cup, she brought the liquid up to her lips and took a large sip out of the drink, her eyes trailing over a few of the posters on the walls of the brew as she did so.

Hearing the door of the brew open, Carly rolled her eyes over to the entrance and found that she was nearly choking on her drink when she spotted who was coming inside. Quickly she pulled her drink away from her lips and back down onto the surface below before swallowing her drink harshly, already feeling the panic rise within her.

The person had yet to notice her as they went over to the counter to order a beverage and Carly glanced over to where Holbrook had gone, realising he was still there and back over to the guy stood with his back to her only yards in front now. She was shocked to see him here after only saying goodbye to his mother this morning.

She knew that this time she didn't have her dad to run to, to get her out of there without being spotted or the police force there pulling her back to her work. Now she had to face him, whenever or not she was ready to be, was out of the question. She couldn't just leave Holbrook in the brew alone since it would look way too suspicious to just get up and leave like that.

At first she hadn't even noticed that the person she had been trying to avoid, had now spun around on his own feet, his coffee cup steaming in his hands and an unreadable expression across his face as he stopped to look at her.

Her heart felt like it had leapt out of her chest when her eyes met with his and she found herself hopping down off the chair to go join him round the other side. She didn't know what the hell came over her to perform that action, but it was like that magnet back at the crime scene that night, it had just kept pulling her towards him and she couldn't stop it.

"Hey Carly." Jason said softly as she now stood opposite him.

He couldn't help but evert his eyes down to her body, taking in the tight white high waisted skinny jeans that hugged her legs and hips perfectly, the grey kami peplum top she wore showed off a small amount of cleavage that certainly had grown over the years, covering her arms was a light pink leather jacket and on her feet were a pair of grey snake print court heels that gave her an extra bit of height, making her not so small as she use to be compared to him.

It didn't go unnoticed to Carly that Jason had been checking her out which made her feel a warm fuzzy feeling in the bottom of her stomach. Something she had not felt in a very long time and to be honest she was unsure if she actually liked it or not. But one thing was for sure, she loved the way her name sounded in his voice. It always had done things to her that she couldn't explain whenever he called her name or said it when he was telling her something.

Taking a deep breath, she managed to open her mouth to speak back to him "Hi Jason."

"Wow I definitely wasn't seeing things that night," He breathed a sigh of relief "You really are back."

She couldn't help but break out into a smile hearing him say that because to her it actually sounded like he was glad she was back in Rosewood.

They stood in silence after a few moments which made Carly shift on her feet awkwardly and Jason keep his gaze on her, trying to work out what to say to her, knowing things with her had not ended the best when they had last spoken. He didn't even know what to say because it wasn't like he expected this to happen.

"You look great by the way," Jason found himself speaking his own thoughts that not only surprised himself but Carly also. "You look really well."

"I am well thanks." She smiled back at him. "You look well too considering…"

She mentally slapped herself after allowing herself to let that one slip. She couldn't believe she was actually going to bring up his mother's death and his sisters reappearance so soon, especially during the first conversation they had shared in years. Why did she have to be so stupid?

"Don't Carly." He shook his head not wanting to hear her say it. He didn't want to have to be reminded how messed up his life was.

"I'm sorry…" She sighed looking down at her feet.

Jason ignored her apology not wanting to have to talk about that with her; he didn't want to have his first and maybe last conversation with her since her return to be full of pity. He just wanted her to be herself despite what was going on.

"Kind of ironic how you're back in Rosewood and I'm on my way out of here." Jason half joked but a part of him was kind of gutted about it.

Being around her made him realise how much he had missed her over the past few years. At first she had only been a game to him, he wanted her to break down her walls and be reckless. When he had succeeded, it was then it became apparent to him how he really did feel about her and how much he wanted to be with her. But there was never the right moment back then and it wasn't long before she left.

"You're leaving?" Carly asked him quietly, her heart sinking slowly in her chest after realising she was never going to see him after this. Maybe it would be for the best.

"Yeah tonight actually, there's nothing keeping me in Rosewood. My mother's dead, my father's way too concerned about Ali and this town just holds to much drama." He explained to her taking a sip out of his coffee and he glanced over the cup at her, his eyes never leaving hers.

Before Carly had the chance to form a sentence and decide how she felt about all of this, Holbrook cut in the conversation after ending his phone call and grabbing his drink off the table they had originally sat at before heading over to the door to leave the coffee shop.

"We should probably head back now, Miss Monroe." Holbrook told her as she finally turned her head away from Jason and onto the Detective.

He flashed a smile at her unware of how Carly and Jason were acting around one another, he had just thought she was being friendly, if only he knew the real reason why they were talking.

After seeing him smile at Carly, Jason couldn't help but feel slight anger bubbling up inside him to see another guy act like that around her. He didn't understand why he was acting this way since Carly wasn't his and never was. But by the relationship he could see between the Detective and Carly, it was another reminder that Carly was part of the team now.

As Holbrook left the brew, Carly quickly looked back at Jason knowing their time was cut short together and she had to leave to avoid any confrontation from Holbrook. However as she stared back at him, she had no idea what to say to him. She knew this would be the last time they spoke since he was leaving town. But could she really tell him how she felt that summer and how she felt now in such a short amount of time?

Spinning round on her feet, she wondered back over to the table and grabbed her purse and coffee cup off the surface, before she came round the side of the table again to where Jason was stood.

"Good bye Jason." Carly said her voice barely even above a whisper before she turned away from him and exited the brew.

Leaving Jason to just stand there and watch her go, he knew that things had changed so much and they were both different people in some ways. He had noticed how much she had grown and was her own person now. But he couldn't brush off the idea of that they never got that real good bye last time and they still hadn't even now. He couldn't stop thinking about how bad he wanted to see her again, even if it was for one last time, just so he could be honest.

Carly tried to ignore the pounding in her chest as she caught up with Holbrook at the end of the street. She was trying to gather herself and act completely normal so he wouldn't catch on how she was really feeling. She was in utter shock that she had even spoken to Jason let alone just walked out on him with only a few words.

"Getting to know one of the people apart of our case I see, Miss Monroe." Holbrook said once Carly had caught up to him as they crossed the road to go over to the station.

"Yeah," She answered lowering her head before muttering under her breath "Something like that."

* * *

That evening Carly had finished work around 9pm and headed home to take a quick shower and grab some light food for her late night dinner since she would have to go to bed soon and be up early the next morning for her next shift.

Thankfully she had managed to finish her police report on the recent events regarding the investigation, when she had got back to the station after her lunch break with Holbrook, despite her mind wondering back to what happened at the brew between her and Jason.

She still couldn't quite believe she had spoken to him again after all these years and it had been so easy to just fall back into a conversation with him, it was like she had never left and nothing had changed between them.

But the reality was, it had changed, it had changed so much and they were completely different people now. Carly was a trainee detective on the Rosewood Police Force and Jason was leaving town to go peruse whatever goals he had next. She knew that whatever happened between them was history now and it was highly unlikely it would get repeated.

She was glad though she got say goodbye to him this time, even if it wasn't how she had planned it to be all of those years ago but just by getting the chance to talk to him and say she was sorry was enough for her right now to continue on, without having to worry of everything she could have said to him. What was the point of dwelling on everything she could have said, when she had to focus on the future now without him in it.

The sound of her phone ringing and vibrating on the coffee table in front of her pulled her attention away from the TV screen and her plate of food that she had nearly finished, and onto the incoming call that was coming in from the device.

Quickly she laid her knife and fork down onto the plate before laying the plate onto the table and swapping it for the cell phone, not even bothering to look at the caller ID. "Hello?" she answered resting the device between her ear and shoulder.

"Have you missed me?" She heard the person on the other end question causing her to roll her eyes playfully at the realisation of who it was.

"Hi Brooke." Carly laughed standing up from her spot on the couch and grabbing the television remote to mute the TV.

"How is my favourite trainee detective getting on?" Brooke questioned as Carly muted the TV and sat back down before making sure she was comfortable, knowing that her conversation with Brooke was going to be a long one since they needed to catch up.

"She's good thanks." Carly replied back. "How's the job hunting going?"

"Ergh don't even get me started." Brooke sighed dramatically. "The amount of job applications I have applied for in the past couple of weeks and have heard nothing back from is becoming like a routine now."

"That bad, huh?"

Carly couldn't help but feel bad for her friend since they had both gone through college together and knew how bad each other wanted their dream jobs. It felt like Carly had gotten her position at Rosewood way too easy, whilst Brooke was still struggling to find a job as a family lawyer.

"Yes! Carls you're so lucky that Rosewood took you on so quickly. Why is it so hard to find a job in New York?"

"Maybe you should move to Rosewood." Carly suggested half-jokingly but half seriously.

She really did miss Brooke's company so having her living in the same town or maybe sharing an apartment with her wouldn't be that bad of an idea. They had basically lived together for nearly three years back at college so it wouldn't have been a problem.

"You wish." Brooke laughed back causing Carly to join in with the laughter. "I wouldn't want to get in the way of you and Mr Detective Holbrook."

"Oh my god." Carly shrieked surprised as to what her friend was saying, she could instantly feel the heat rise to her cheeks. "How the hell did you know about him?"

"Your Dad might have mentioned something. Something along the lines of Carly and this charming male detective are getting on really well." Brooke teased her friend.

"Oh my god I can't." Carly shook her head in disbelief that her Dad had been informing her best friend of her the people she worked with and had mentioned that Holbrook was 'charming'. "Please remind me to get my Dad to stop messaging you updates about my personal life."

"Someone's got to." Brooke replied back playfully. "I mean you weren't going to bring up this detective guy, were you Carls?"

"No because he's irrelevant. He's just a guy I work with and the lead detective on the case I've been assigned to that's all." Carly defended herself not liking where this conversation was going to go, it had happened way too many times before.

Throughout college there had been a few guys that had been interested in Carly. She had even dated a couple of them during the years she lived in New York but it was always like such a big effort for her to actually want to get close to someone in a romantic way.

It got to the point when most of the time Brooke or the other girls they shared a dorm with literally had to force Carly to go on dates with these guys. It wasn't that Carly didn't want to date. It was the fact she didn't want to be side tracked from her progress with her academic work and her wellbeing since most things were a distraction, especially boys who seemed to be a problem for her in the past of throwing her off target.

So instead of perusing a relationship with the two guys whether it was short or long term, she would go on a series of dates with them and get close to them to the point where it was 'official' that they were seeing each other, but not yet at the relationship stage to say 'we're boyfriend and girlfriend'. Once it got nearer to that though, she would break it off and leave them with an excuse that once she was done at college, she wouldn't be staying in New York and a long distance relationship really wasn't for her.

Brooke knew that deep down that wasn't the only reason why Carly decided not to date or get into relationships. She knew all about Jason and how she felt about him. She knew their past and all the ups/downs they faced when they were involved with one another. But just like John, Carly's Dad she wanted Carly to be happy and feel like she could date again without any setbacks this time. She deserved to be happy and free from her past. She deserved to find a nice good guy and be in love with them.

"Ok so he's not relevant now but he could possibly be, am I right?" Brooke suggested with a hint of hopefulness in her voice. "Please say I'm right."

"Brooke! Seriously." Carly chuckled amused at her friend.

"C'mon Carls. How many guys in the past few years have you turned down?" Brooke stopped letting Carly step in.

Carly sighed loudly. "One or two…"

"More like at least 10 and that's since I've known you, god knows how many were queueing up to be with you in high school. But my point is, what so bad about maybe getting to know this detective a little better? From what your Dad's said he seems like he's interested."

"Yeah because my Dad would spot me with some professionally presented and high authority looking guy and instantly presume we're getting married." Carly told her fiddling with the material on the sleeve of the sweater she was wearing. "Can we just drop this? I don't want to talk about my non-existent love life."

Just as Carly finished speaking there was a light tap at her apartment door causing her to turn her head over to the door with a frown. She quickly glanced over to the clock in the kitchen area seeing it was 9:38pm meaning it was getting quite late and she wasn't expect anyone, not even her Dad since he was still working at the hospital.

Getting up from the couch, she slowly made her way over to the door as Brooke continued to ramble on down the phone. "It's only non-existent because you don't give anyone a chance… I bet if you literally walked around with a sign stuck to your forehead saying I'm available," Carly finally reached the door and grabbed hold of the door handle, before opening up to reveal the person stood behind it, who had come to her house so randomly at night. "…you would have guys lining up outside your front door…"

Carly felt her eyes widen, her stomach flutter and her heart began to beat rapidly when she saw who had turned up at her apartment. Shock and confusion swept over her within seconds as she stared back at the person, not knowing what to say or what to do next. But she knew one thing was for sure, she had to end the call with Brooke, and she couldn't have her friend finding out who had come to her door just yet.

Even though Carly hadn't been listening for the past 30 seconds, Carly cut Brooke off mid-sentence as she was still rambling on about Carly's love life. "Brooke I'm going to have to call you back, something's come up."

Without even giving her friend a chance to reply, Carly brought the phone down from her ear and pressed the end button, never once did her eyes leave his as the pair gazed at each other.

For the first time since opening the door, Carly suddenly felt self-conscious after realising she was dressed in nothing but a pair of extra short cotton shorts and a baggy sweater, which caused her to hide half her body round the side of the door.

But it didn't seem to bother Jason seeing her like that, it didn't seem to bother him that what he was doing right now turning up at her place uninvited was going to have repercussions and that they both knew he shouldn't be there, he should have already left town to get on with his life, not running backwards to the past.

But right now, all that mattered to Jason was that he got his goodbye. He got the goodbye he wanted from Carly just like he wanted all those years ago.

* * *

 **Author note: I really hope you liked this part and the first proper Jason/Carly interaction.**

 **I am so amazed at how many people have took an interest in my story so a special thank you to the following people, RHatch89, LiLuLo12, Pookie Luffs Sushi, BYEkim, zoey303, BehindGrayEyes, Heartlessprincess33and . You guys either favourited or followed since the last part, or reviewed the last part so thank you very much!**

 **Please let me know what you thought about this part. I love to hear what you think.**

 **Thanks so much for reading**

 **xx**


	6. Rekindle

**Rekindle:**

"Jason." Carly breathed for what felt like the first time in a while. She was still trying to get her head round about their conversation in the brew, let alone him turning up at her apartment later on during the same day. "What are you doing here?"

Jason's eyes flickered to the floor for a moment contemplating whether or not to be honest with her straight away. He was worried about letting his guard down in front of people but he had never felt like this with Carly. He could always talk to her about anything back then. But now it was like he felt weak and afraid of her thinking bad about him because of what happened the year they got involved with each other. He blamed himself for pretty much everything.

"May I come inside?" He asked bringing his eyes back up to look at her with hopeful gaze, as well as completely ignoring her question.

Carly remained silent for a few seconds unsure of whether or not to let him in, since she knew that earlier in the brew was supposed to be the last time she ever spoke with him again and had even began agreeing to herself that she had to get over it now. If she let him inside, that would never be able to happen and it wouldn't be a good idea.

Plus her Dad wouldn't exactly be happy if he ever found out Jason had come to her apartment late at night on the exact same day they spoke again, he would instantly ship her back to another state to live, well away from Rosewood and Jason.

Jason could see how uncertain Carly was by the lost expression on her face and the fact that she had kept quiet. He knew he was pushing boundaries here but he wanted her to make sure that they got a proper goodbye this time. Two simple words were not enough for him, they were never going to be enough, he had wanted to make it up to her and this felt like his only shot in doing so.

"I know you don't want me here, but I'm leaving town tonight, so please?" Jason asked optimistic that Carly would accept. He didn't know if he could leave without doing this.

She could see the sincere look in his eyes and it couldn't help but make her chest tighten at how desperate he was to be with her again. She couldn't quite handle how badly he was affecting her in so many ways. She shouldn't be feeling like this after this time apart but yet she felt like a silly teenager all over again.

Exhaling loudly, she gradually nodded her head and moved away from the door, allowing Jason to enter in which he did a few seconds later. His eyes instantly trailed over the inside of her apartment , he even found himself smiling once he had took it all in, it totally read Carly and he was glad that she could afford to live on her own in such a nice place.

Once Carly had closed the door behind Jason, she wondered past him quickly to go gather up the plate of unfinished food she had left on the coffee table when Brooke had rung. Picking up the plate, she made her way back past him and over to the table, trying her very best to remain calm and not crumble in this situation. She couldn't let Jason see her vulnerable, she had to act strong and show him that she was better now, because she was, that was no lie.

"Please sit down." Carly instructed him after noticing he had been staring around the room as she laid the plate into the sink and her phone which she had turned to silent on one of the work stations. "Would you like a drink?"

"Uh yeah." Jason cleared his throat awkwardly, taking his attention of the space and he began to wonder over to the couch to take a seat. "Water would be great thanks."

Carly carefully grabbed a glass out of one of the cabinets and began to fill it with cold water from the tap, whilst Jason slipped off his jacket and laid it on the arm of the couch, leaving him in

Once she had filled up the glass, she wondered back over to the living room area where she laid the glass down on the coffee table in front of Jason and took a seat on the other end of the couch furthest away from him.

"You've got a really nice place here." Jason complimented as he bent down to pick up the cold glass and took a small out of the liquid before laying it back down and facing her.

"Uh thanks." She mumbled back before another wave of awkwardness filled the air.

She was still not sure if she was ok with the fact that Jason had turned up at her apartment and was now inside sat inside on her couch, acting like he had come round here for a 'friendly catch up' like everything was still the same between them, when it really wasn't, it had been three whole years. She didn't understand what his motive was for coming here.

"So where are you going to stay?" Carly asked trying to brush off the tense feeling.

"Philadelphia." He answered simply. "Probably some hotel it doesn't really bother me."

"Why?" She said confused as to why it didn't bother him but then gathered he was referring to his house now, anything must have been better than living there. "Have you stayed in worse places?"

"I don't know, have you?"

Jason raised his eyebrows up at Carly causing her to frown with confusion, she didn't like the way he was looking at her and she felt like he was trying to work out what she had been doing when she had suddenly left town.

"Uh the college dorm I lived in wasn't exactly big enough for four girls but it worked." She said as she tried to hide the uneasy feeling.

He couldn't help but let the corners of his mouth twitch up after hearing about one part of her college lifestyle. It was like he was proud of her for being able to go after her dreams and be able to make something out of her life unlike him. He was glad that at least one of them had achieved something.

"Oh yeah, college worked out alright for you then?"

"Yeah it did." She nodded with a small smile.

"I knew how much it meant to you." He told her with a smile and she felt her stomach go all funny after hearing him say that. She had no idea he would remember. "I could always see the desire in your eyes whenever you talked about it."

Laughing slightly under her breath she glanced down at her lap where her legs were folded over one another, not being able to look at him in the same way, it was bringing way too many feelings back to her.

"I'm surprised you listened actually." Carly replied as Jason gave her a weird look.

"I always listened to you Carly, why wouldn't I?"

Carly stayed quiet as she shrugged her shoulders back in response, knowing that she couldn't bring up the past right now, she didn't want to upset him with mentioning all the crap he went through and dragged her into also. She didn't like how this conversation was heading. Too much of the past was going to be brought up and she didn't know if she would be able to handle that so early on.

Jason could tell that she was unsure of how to reply to that question and decided not to press her into answering it. He knew that this must have been hard for her to just sit and talk to him with ease like nothing had changed. It had taken him a lot of courage to even drive over to the apartment, if he had been so comfortable with the idea of being around her again he would have ran after her that night at his place. But he didn't and he knew it would take time for both of them to be normal around one another again.

Yet he didn't have time, he had planned on leaving Rosewood tonight and he knew he couldn't leave Rosewood or Carly without letting her know how he really felt. He had to do it tonight before he missed his last final chance.

However, Carly was still unaware of why Jason was really there and to be honest she wanted to know more than ever. It was playing through her mind all the theories she had going round in her head as to why. Some so unrealistic that they could possibly never happen. Some that she didn't even want to become reality because she couldn't face hearing him admit to some of the things she wished he would never say to her.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Carly turned her head back up to face him and finally decided she needed answers now before she sent herself insane.

"What are you really doing here, Jason?" She asked gaining his attention almost immediately. "I know you're not here for some friendly catch up, so why have you come here?"

"Do I have to have a reason to come see you?" He answered cleverly.

Carly scoffed at this she couldn't believe he was still acting like they were still the same people from when she was a teenager. He had to stop. "Yes" She hissed at him a sense of annoyance n her voice. "Because I don't know if you've realised Jason but we're not the same people anymore, I've changed, I've grown up. We haven't been in contact for three years and I presume you've changed too in that time?"

"If you're referring to the drugs and alcohol then yes." Jason spat back at her not liking what she was implying.

"No that's not what I meant." Carly defended herself shaking her head as she did so.

She didn't mean that part of him. She didn't want him to have to bring that up tonight or ever. She knew it must have been hard for him and she had never meant for him to think she had been talking about that.

Sighing loudly Carly shifted in her seat uncomfortably "I just don't get why you're here. You shouldn't be here."

Jason copied her actions and turned to face her more, he had a look of irritation on his face due to his eyebrows creasing together and his lips were slightly parted. He didn't like what she was saying. He didn't like the fact she was pushing him away. She never had pushed him away before.

"Why Carly?"

"Because I'm in the police force now and if I was spotted with you then it would look suspicious." She explained to him trying her best not to look into his eyes because if she did she was loose it. She couldn't bear to see the pain in his eyes that she had caused/was causing. "Plus my Dad wouldn't exactly be happy to find out we're talking again."

"Your Dad never did like me, did he?" She shook her head back at him. "I don't get why you're so worried. I'm going to be leaving town after this. All I want is a proper goodbye."

"A proper goodbye?" She repeated throwing a puzzled look his way as she watched his eyes slowly trail down to her lips. Her chest tightened suddenly after she realised what he was suggesting and she could feel her heart beat already starting to speed up.

"No Jason! We can't." Carly objected quickly rising to her feet and going to stand round the other side of the coffee table, her hands ran over her face clearly distressed before she turned to face him with flushed cheeks. "I can't believe you've come here for that."

Jason kept quiet as he watched Carly storm over to the other side of the room, his whole body shifting on the couch to look over at her as she turned her back to him and rested her palms against one of the kitchen surfaces.

He couldn't help but feel guilty after bringing it up. He had been too naïve to have thought she wouldn't have reacted like that, it was Carly for crying out loud, she was always dramatic, stubborn and challenging, it seemed like nothing had changed about her that aspect however much she said she had 'apparently' changed.

Slowly he got up from his spot on the couch and made his way over to her, it was only now that as he got closer he could see how much she was really freaking out about this and he hated how he had to be the cause of it all. He didn't want to upset her that was not how he had planned this and he was slowly starting to think she didn't see him the same way he saw her anymore.

Carly closed her eyes lightly as she tried to steady her heavy breathing and calm herself down. She didn't want to have a panic attack in front of Jason. She had to prove to him that she was stronger now and could cope.

She couldn't help but react like that to his suggestion since it was something they had agreed to do all those years back. She didn't think he would actually come here for that exact reason. She thought he felt differently about her now and whatever he felt back then was just the alcohol and drugs talking. They were never supposed to get attached to one another but they still did and even now she felt like she was getting far too attached. Why couldn't he have just left the conversation in the brew as their last?

Unexpectedly she felt herself jump slightly when a pair of large hands rested on her upper arms and she could feel the warmth radiating from them and him through her clothing. As soon as he touched her it was like something inside of her just calmed down, she instantly felt relaxed knowing he was there for her and could feel herself gain control.

"Look at me, Carly." Jason said softly trying to get her look at him. She didn't know if she could though. She didn't want to break in front of him or tell him she didn't know if she could go through with it to only leave him with disappointment.

Gradually she turned her body round to face him, her eyes trailing to the ground and it wasn't until then that she realised how close he had been standing behind her, and now how small the gap between them was. His breath tickled her face causing goose bumps to fall on her arms underneath her sweater which he still was holding and his eyes kept searching her face for any sign of an answer to his proposal.

She couldn't help but like the feeling of him touching her, it made her feel safe and warm just like it used to. She didn't understand how this was happening or even she was feeling like this when they had hardly spoken or been in touch with each other in a long time. She thought all her feelings regarding him had gone away after the first year at college. She didn't think that she would even care to be around him. But right now all she wanted was for Jason to stay holding her like he was even if it was just for a few minutes.

"Tell me you didn't regret not getting a proper chance to say goodbye last time, tell me that if you ever got the chance to say goodbye again you wouldn't take it, tell me you don't want any of that and I'll go" His voice was filled with desperation and he breathed out heavily. "I'll leave."

For the first time since being that close to him, she finally pulled her head up and looked at him. Her heat began to speed up in her chest as she knew she had to make up her mind now whether or not she could accept that their goodbye in the brew was it, or that she had the chance to say a proper goodbye to him now, one that she had wanted since she was eighteen years old.

But the twenty one year old Carly was not so young and innocent now. Whatever she decided to do now would have repercussions. She couldn't just fool around and mess around using the old excuse of that she was just experimenting and having fun. Because now she was an adult and this wasn't something she could run away from after her senior year was over.

She had to decide whether Jason was worth the goodbye they had planned together three years ago or was she too selfish now that she had to think of her own self, to think how bad it would be to get involved with him again and that instead she should just tell him to go, however much she didn't want him to leave.

Although, she couldn't ignore that small percentage of her that was telling her to just take him up on his offer. She was being handed it to her on a silver plate and if she didn't do it now, then she doubted she would get another chance to. This could be her opportunity to find closure, to get over the pain and sadness she had felt.

Carly rubbed her lips together as she found her eyes flickering down to his lips and quickly away from him, hoping that he had not noticed, she needed to stop getting distracted and to just focus on what really needed to happen here such as plucking up the courage to ask him to leave.

However when she glanced back at him again after seeing him trying to break the gap between them she found herself scrambling to put together words "Jason….I" Before she had the chance to continue on, his lips smashed against her own and for a few seconds she froze unsure of what to do.

But it wasn't long before she found herself melting into the kiss and giving into him, her lips now moving in synch with his and her eyes fluttered shut. The feeling of his lips on hers was enough for her to know how she really felt now. She had missed the taste of him and how both of them just seemed to just fit together.

Jason increased the speed of the kiss as Carly trailed her tongue over his bottom lip wanting more of him, in which Jason accepted quickly before pulling her closer to him, both of them feeling the pleasure rock through their bodies as the kiss heated up some more.

In no time, Jason hooked his hands under Carly's thighs and lifted her up onto the work surface behind them. He positioned himself in between her legs as they continued to kiss each other hungrily, Carly's hands wondered through his hair as she lost herself in the moment whilst Jason ran his hands up the sides of her body causing Carly to wrap her legs around his body to pull him closer to her.

All of her doubts and worries were replaced with the hunger for passion and pleasure. She couldn't quite believe how much she wanted Jason right now. She couldn't pull herself away from him and it didn't look like he was going to detach himself from her anytime soon either. They had kissed before but it had never been this hungry.

He pulled away from her lips for a split second before he trailed kisses down from her jaw, over her neck and down onto her collarbone, causing Carly to let escape the loud moan she had been trying to hold back since Jason first kissed her. She had always loved him kissing her collarbone/shoulder area and didn't he love to know what that did to her.

Smirking he brought his lips back up to hers, he could already feel the massive bulge growing in his jeans knowing that he couldn't hold back much longer and he needed her as soon as possible.

His hands came to rest on the tops of her bare soft thighs were her pyjama shorts didn't reach as her hands skimmed down his neck and onto his upper arms, where she found herself feeling up his muscles, definitely noticing that he had grown ever bigger in that department during their time apart.

Carly found herself moaning again when one of Jason's hands moved up closer to where her shorts finished on the top of her thigh. His fingers inched dangerously close to where the material lifted up a little and it wasn't long before he gained entrance to go under the material. He slowly moved his way inside the material of the shorts and his fingers came to a halt when he felt the side of Carly's lace knickers.

She instantly pulled away from him breathlessly as his fingers lay upon her panties, just waiting to move on to the part where he needed to touch the most, his eyes glistening with arousal and his breathing matched hers.

Carly laid her hand upon the back of her neck, pulling his head closer to hers where she leant towards his ear and whispered softly "If we're seriously going to do this then the bedroom would be better."

Following her instructions, Jason quickly withdrew his hands from where they had originally been and hooked his hands onto her ass, where he picked her up and made his way over to the open door of which he guessed was her bedroom whilst she sucked on his neck, inhaling his scent as she did so it was a mixture of warm earth and cinnamon, just like how she had remembered.

Going through into the room, he laid her carefully down onto the bed, as she began to pull her sweater up over her head leaving her in a red lacy bra. Jason couldn't help but widen his eyes at the sight of her nearly topless, a sight he had seen a few times before when they had been drunk but she had definitely gotten bigger since the last time. He couldn't wait any longer and neither could she by the way she was gazing at him from the bed.

Turning his head for a second, he hastily slipped himself out of his t-shirt and revealed his toned body to Carly who was already craving him. He quickly reached over and slammed the door shut behind him before climbing on top of Carly who pulled him in forcefully and reconnected their lips once more.

Both of them ready to have the goodbye they never got the chance to have, unaware that in the morning there would be consequences especially for Carly who knew better than to rekindle the past.

* * *

 **Author note: Thank you for reading. I thought I would update a day early since I am busy tomorrow and wasn't sure when I would be able to get the part up. Also I wanted to get this part up because I feel it's a major part of the story for both Jason and Carly. I really hope you liked how this has turned out and don't think I am rushing things because I definitely am not going about it that way. This is a slight slow burn for Carly and Jason. They both have a damaged past and it's always been hard for them to be together, so that may be able to give you a clue of how this story may progress but I'm not saying anything just yet.**

 **Anyway, special thanks to those of you who have reviewed the last part and favourited or followed since the last part: RHatch89, LiLuLo12, Happy4423, Guest, Little Liar, doodlemerry and elvensnare! Sorry if I have missed anyone. Let me know if I have and I'll be sure to thank you.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this part.**

 **Please review letting me know your thoughts. I really do love to hear from you guys.**

 **xx**


	7. Let Go

**Let go:**

Carly peered round the door frame that lead into her bedroom, her heart sinking once again whilst her stomach churned, when she saw the man from the night before still sleeping in her bed, the duvet covers were wrapped round his lower body revealing his muscular abdomen and chest. The same abdomen and chest Carly had ran her fingers down and placed small kisses on hours before.

She wished she could stop thinking about what happened last night. In theory she wished it had never happened actually. She wished she had not got caught up in the moment and let her past teenage hopes take over.

But that is exactly that, in the moment she wanted him and she wanted him to want her just as much as she did. What happened between them last night was what she had always wanted and when she finally got it all she could feel was regret. It was not how she expected to feel after.

Why did she let him get to her like that, why couldn't she have just told him to leave instead of letting him do to her what they had planned to do that summer? Why could he have just never turned up at her place last night and just left their goodbye as it was? Why did they have to complicate things between them even more?

She instantly knew that this had to be a one off and should never happen again. She was thankful that he was going to be leaving town after this and she wouldn't have to face seeing him every day in town. She could finally get over him and move on with her life now however hard it was going to be to know that they never worked out the way she had wanted.

But at least they got the goodbye now although it left Carly with no idea what to do. She was already running ten minutes late for work since she didn't set her alarm on her phone last night due to her antics with Jason, meaning she woke up with his body closely wrapped up to hers from behind, aches and pains running through her body, a feeling of guilt and annoyance settling in her mind, without any idea of what the time was and how the hell she was going to explain this one to not only herself but everyone else including Jason.

Once she had managed to slowly retrieve her body from Jason's grasp without waking him up in the process, she threw on the knickers and jumper she had been wearing last night before making her way into the kitchen to check the time.

Her body began to panic when she grabbed her phone off the kitchen unit, her mind flashing back to the events of last night but soon drifted away when she saw what the time was and how many missed calls/messages she had from Brooke. She had completely forgotten that she had been on the phone with Brooke minutes before Jason arrived.

She had no clue whether to tell her best friend what happened last night, why she had to end the phone so abruptly and explain to her why she hadn't got back in touch with her. Brooke wasn't Jason's biggest fan. She hated how he had influenced Carly and caused most of her issues, but she knew the way her best friend felt about him and knew Carly would rather blame herself than him.

However, that was the least of her worries right now since she had to be at the station in the next five minutes and that was not going to work out since her morning routine took at least an hour. Plus she had to somehow get Jason awake and out of her apartment quickly with some sort of reasonable explanation as to why last night could never happen again.

And that is where she was at now, standing outside the bedroom and contemplating of how the hell she was going to handle this situation. She thought about heading to work but leaving him to wake up himself, maybe write him a note explaining how she felt and had to leave him to go work, as well as leaving him a spare key to lock up her apartment when he was ready to leave.

But she couldn't do that to him. She couldn't leave him wondering how she really felt because she wasn't that harsh. It was better for her to what was best for them, even if it meant a lot of heart breaks for the both of them.

Despite the regret and anger, she still did feel something for him and would do anything for him. But they could never work out, it was too complicated and their past was rough.

Spinning around on her heel, she wondered over to take out a bottle of orange juice out of the fridge before she quickly began to wash up the plate she had left in the sink last night whilst still deciding what to do about this. She needed to hurry up though since Holbrook would already be expecting her at the station.

Picking up the soapy wet plate in her hands, she twisted round to find a tea towel to dry the ceramic object and it wasn't long before the shakiness in her hands she felt from panicking, sent the object slipping out of her hands and down onto the floor with a loud crash.

Cursing to herself quietly, she bent down to retrieve the broken pieces and opened up one of the cabinets to get a cloth. As she did this, the sound of footsteps coming out of her bedroom and into the main living area caused her heart to skip a beat at the realisation that she had actually woken Jason up from his slumber now, meaning she had to face the music.

Picking up the pieces into the tea cloth, she scrambled to her feet to be met with the sight of Jason who was now dressed in the clothing attire he wore yesterday, his hair slightly messy from sleeping and he had a look of concern on his face.

"Are you ok?" He asked his voice slightly husky from just waking up and it was already making her feel uneasy because of what it was doing to her.

Laughing nervously, Carly laid the towel onto one of the work stations and flattened down the bottom of the black body-con knee length dress she was wearing.

"Uh yeah everything's fine, just had a little accident with a plate." Carly told him her cheeks flushing slightly.

Jason remained quiet after her explanation giving her the chance to slip past him, before quickly grabbing her bag off the dining table and unplugging her phone from the charger in one of the plug sockets attached to one of the walls.

It didn't go unnoticed to Jason of how fast and jumpy her actions seemed to be that morning, he could already see that she was dressed due to the black dress, red waterfall blazer she was wearing and the black pointed court shoe heels she had on her feet, signalling that she had already got plans for the day and would be leaving soon.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Jason questioned again with raised eyebrows.

Turning round to face him, she flashed him a fake reassuring smile "Absolutely."

She really needed to get this over and done with already. She couldn't have him here any longer when she had no intentions of keeping him around. She also had to get to work before she was sacked from her dream position.

"Look Jason I'm already running late for work, so I don't mean to be rude but you need to leave like right now because I can't afford to make a bad impression so early on." Carly explained to him, making it sound harsher than she intended to. But she needed to be straight with him.

"Of course don't let me hold you." Jason replied going over to take his jacket off the couch before slipping it on his body.

She breathed a sigh of relief that he was agreeing to leave so she could lock up and head out to work before she got her ass kicked for being late. Slipping her bag up onto her shoulder, she grabbed her keys off the hook by the door and went to grab the handle to exit, when she suddenly felt Jason's large hand sit on top of hers stopping her from doing so.

"Are you not going to say goodbye?" He said quietly into her ear causing her heart to pound in her chest nervously.

She should have known it wouldn't have been this easy to leave.

Gradually she turned round to face him, slipping her hand out from under his as he stepped away from her slightly so he could look at her properly.

"I think we said enough goodbyes last night, don't you?" Carly responded bitterly.

She couldn't help but give him attitude since she couldn't ignore the feeling of regret she had felt since she woken up. However much she had always wanted that. She just couldn't live with the consequences of her actions. She should have known better than to get herself involved with him again. She hadn't gone through what she had gone through for her to just fall back into her old ways.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jason spat back not liking her tone with him.

"What it's supposed to mean Jason is that we shouldn't have let last night happen. It was a mistake. A mistake that can never been repeated again. We're both too messed up and have such a damaged past that we can't get involved with each other again." Carly breathed and swallowed harshly when a lump formed in her throat. "I think it would be best if you left."

Jason scoffed loudly and shook his head, he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing from her mouth but he knew that she had a point. They both had rocky pasts. He was slowly starting to lay off the drugs/alcohol after receiving help a number of times. She had got a job in the law enforcement and if she was found to be with him, it wouldn't look professional since he was known as the local bad boy and brother to the sister who went missing. He wasn't any good for her. He never had been.

"I think you're right." Jason mumbled taking his car keys out of his jacket pocket and edging his way over to the door in which Carly was stood in front of.

She could feel the tears threaten to leak out of her eyes but blinked them away quickly. She couldn't let Jason see her cry. She had promised herself to not cry anymore. She was so done with all the crying she had done the past few years. She hardly ever shed a tear now. It made her feel stronger and that she could take on anything.

Carly stepped out of the way for him; her eyes never leaving his as she bit down on her bottom lip and watched him open the apartment door. Slowly he stepped out into the foyer of the apartment block and turned back round to face her as she stepped more towards him, a hurt expression on his face but couldn't help but smile slightly as he thought back to how good last night felt for him.

"I know you don't want to push things further but promise me something Carls." Jason proposed to her in which she nodded with a small smile on her face. "I want you to take this and if you ever need me for whatever reason, even if it's just to talk then please do so."

Carly watched him pull out a business type look card out from the inside of his jacket pocket and hand it over to her. She carefully took it from him and glanced down at it to see a cell phone number scribbled down on the card in his hand writing.

Before she had the chance to take one last look at him, he had already made his departure from the hall way and was already down the stairs heading to the exit of the apartment block. It wasn't only the departure from the hall way, it was the departure from her life and hopefully it was going to work out for the better.

She had to focus on herself now, focus on her job and saving/changing people's lives for the better. She had to get over Jason.

Around five minutes after her encounter with Jason, Carly jogged through the entrance doors of the station out of breath and clearly flustered from being late, as well everything that had happened last night and this morning.

After hearing the sound of heels hitting the marble floor, Detective Holbrook who was going over a file with one of the Rosewood cops turned his head over to where Carly was after noticing her arrival before excusing himself away from the cop and over to join Carly in the middle of the station.

"I am so sorry I am late." She apologised breathless as she came face to face with him.

"Hey let's not do this here." Holbrook said softly to her before laying his hand on her shoulder and walking with her over to the office they shared together.

Once they had entered the office, Carly wondered over to her end of the desk and laid her bag on top of the table whilst Holbrook closed the door behind them.

She found herself chewing anxiously on bottom lip waiting to hear him say the worst case consequence for her lack of punctuality. She didn't know what she would do if she lost her dream job right there and then just because she was late that morning. She didn't know how she would even be able to tell her Dad she lost her job. She definitely would have to leave out the reason why she had been late to him.

"Look I am so sorry about being late. I promise this won't happen again." Carly told him desperate for him to forgive her and not be mad about all of this.

"Relax. These things happen." Holbrook smiled at her reassuringly. "But I don't expect it to become a habit, Miss Monroe. We have a lot of work here to do and it's crucial you're here on time so we don't lag behind, understood?"

"Of course I understand." Carly breathed out the breath she had been holding in with relief. "I promise it won't become a habit."

She was so glad that she he wasn't angry at her or going to fire her from her job. She must not let that happen again otherwise she didn't know if she would get off so easy.

"I believe you won't break that promise, Miss Monroe." Holbrook replied back as he took a seat down at his desk and switched on his laptop.

"Thank you." She smiled in his direction and copied his actions, taking a seat at her own desk and looking over the list of tasks that had been set for her to do by Lieutenant Tanner.

They were her usual basic admin tasks such as filing away police reports, important documents and any other information into files that belonged in the filing cabinet, researching important topics for the case she had been assigned to or assisting Holbrook, the other cops or Tanner with different jobs.

"Before you do anything today, do you think you could just make a quick phone call to Kenneth DiLaurentis for me?" Holbrook asked her causing her to roll her eyes up to look at him with utter surprise.

She was glad he was concentrating on his computer screen as a pose to her because she was trying so hard to hide how uneasy she felt about having to speak to the father of the guy she just had sex with and actually had met a few times when being over at the DiLaurentis house. Now she had to pretend she had nothing to do with Jason who happened to be his son.

"Uh sure." She agreed before logging onto the data base on her laptop to get a number for Kenneth. "What is it you want me to tell him?"

"Just remind him that Alison needs to go for her medical examination sometime today." Holbrook informed her pressing a few buttons on the keyboard before the sound of the printer filled the room and he wondered over to retrieve the printing. "We allowed her to postpone it because of her mother's death but its urgent she has it done now."

Carly nodded at him before she began to search for the number, whilst Holbrook gathered the printings and walked back over to slip on his suit jacket.

"I'm just heading out for about an hour. I'll leave you to it until then." He told her as he made his way over to the door to exit the office.

"Ok I'll see you later then." Carly replied back looking over her laptop at him.

"Don't miss me too much." Holbrook flirted with her with a mischievous grin on his face.

She couldn't help but shake her head amused that he was still trying to charm her. "Goodbye detective Holbrook." Carly smirked back and lifted her fingers up to give him a mocking wave goodbye.

"It's Gabe." He informed her as he opened up the office door, taking one step out of it but still keeping his gaze on her and keeping it open with his foot. "My name's Gabriel."

She titled her head slightly with a playful expression flashing across her face but once he winked back at her and left she let out a slight chuckle to herself. She still couldn't believe he was still acting like that towards her, in some ways she found it sweet that he was being like that and in other ways she was kind of creeped out. But she was glad she could work with someone who actually valued her and could get on easily with.

Shaking her head amused, she picked up the telephone on her desk before bringing it up to her ear and dialling the number to Kenneth DiLaurentis' cell phone. She wiggled her toes in her shoes anxiously as the ringing tone filled her ear knowing she had to subside the awkwardness of this conversation and instead focus on her job, as well as staying professional at all times.

After a few rings the ringing cut of and a deep slightly tired male voice answered "Hello?"

"Hello is that Mr DiLaurentis?" Carly asked to clarify.

"Yes who is this?" He answered back.

"It's Miss Monroe calling on behalf of the Rosewood Police Department." She paused taking a breath. "I was just informing you that your daughter Alison needs to go for her medical examination preferably sometime today."

"Oh yes of course." Kenneth replied. "I was just then about to ring the hospital about that."

"That's great Mr DiLaurentis." Carly thanked him. "It's really essential that Alison attends, it will be very beneficial for us moving forward with the case and being able to piece together the events of the past couple of years."

"I understand." He said sadly, clearly it was hard for him all of this and Carly wasn't surprised. "Is that all Miss Monroe?"

"Yes Sir."

"How do I recognise that name?"

Carly felt herself freezing and her chest go tight knowing that he must have remembered her more than she would have liked him to. How the hell was she supposed to get herself out of this one?

"Uh..." Carly couldn't even form a sentence let alone any words to his question.

"Oh I know" Kenneth laughed slightly. "You're John's Monroe's daughter, you're Carly Monroe."

Carly sighed in relief that he had decided to remember her because of her Dad rather than the involvement she had with his son all those years ago. She would have preferred he knew her because that than the girl who use to hang out blind drink at his house with his son.

"Yes that's me."

"Wow a job in the law enforcement." Kenneth said surprised. "At least I can trust at least one of the people on the force to deal with my family."

"Trust me Mr DiLaurentis everything is being dealt with the in the best way possible." Carly tried to reassure him, even though he had rights to be doubtful since the Rosewood police had not had the best track record over the past few years, from what she had heard from her father.

"I hope you're right Carly." He exhaled. "I'm glad you've got this job. At least one of Jason's friends made something with their lives."

And that's when Carly felt her stomach to a flip at the mention of his name and the realisation that Kenneth did actually remember her from being around Jason. That also meant he must have remembered the times she was drunk at his house, when she had brought a drunk intoxicated Jason back to his house many times and had to listen to every time him tell Jason how much of a disgrace he was to the family, he even spotted her leaving his house in the early hours of the morning dressed in the clothes from the night before when he was heading out to work, the looks and confusion he use to look at her with. He had remembered it all. He had remembered her horrible past.

"Um thanks I guess." Carly mumbled unsure of how to answer that. She could feel her throat going dry.

"I always remember you being the most sensible out of Jason and his friends. I always had high hopes for you during the year you use to come over to the house. You're a very smart girl for getting away from all of that." Kenneth explained to her with a small laugh and Carly couldn't help but feel guilty that he had no idea that she had slept with Jason just last night, clearly not getting away from him like Mr DiLaurentis had thought.

"Um I'm sorry I've got to go now Mr DiLaurentis." Carly said quickly wanting this phone call to end ASAP. "Thank you for your time and I hope we'll hear the results of Alison's examination within the next couple of days."

"Of course I'll make sure she goes." Kenneth told her not even realising how Carly was feeling in that moment.

"Thank you, good bye Mr DiLaurentis."

Before he had the chance to say goodbye, Carly hung up the phone and slammed the receiver down onto the holder. She placed her elbows up onto the table and ran her hands over to the top of her head in annoyance. Why did things like this always have to happen to her?

The awkwardness and shame she felt that Kenneth still remembered her in that way made her feel mortified of the person she used to be. She hoped that he never repeated anything about her old self to any of the police team. No doubt they would look at her completely different and Tanner would probably end up kicking her off the force without an explanation.

This really made her aware that she had to let go of Jason now for real this time. She got the goodbye she had always wanted and now it was time for her to let go of that part of her past.

Just like she had already let go of everything else that consumed her back then.

Carly's shift for the rest of the day seemed to fly by with all the admin work she was doing for the station and she even accompanied a few of the officers and Holbrook to work on another case in another location for the afternoon. She was really enjoying her time working as a trainee detective and couldn't wait till she fully qualified meaning she could be in charge of her own investigations.

It was around 6:30pm when Carly left the station that night, all of her previous troubles and concerns were put behind her as she planned to stay focus on her life now and her future career. It was what she always wanted and knew it had to be her biggest priority right now.

She climbed into her car with a smile on her face, despite the exhaustion she felt from the busy and dramatic week she had ended up with, she still felt happy to be given the opportunity to train to be a detective in her hometown, just like she wanted to since she was a young girl. She wanted to follow in her mom's footsteps.

She had the determination to try and forget about Jason now, to be move on with that chapter of her life and begin fresh. She was even considering maybe widening her options with the whole relationships thing. But maybe not just yet, maybe when she had completed her training, had a stable job and income, then maybe just maybe she would put herself on the market.

The drive back to her apartment only lasted under ten minutes since there wasn't much traffic this time of night and she only lived a few blocks away. Once she had gotten out of her car, her bag hooked onto her shoulder and her car keys in her hand, she locked the car up before making her way inside the apartment block.

She couldn't wait to get inside her home and make herself some dinner, she was starving since she hadn't eaten since her small lunch break at 1 o'clock, and even then it had only been a sandwich since she had been set so much work to do that day.

As fast as she could she jogged up the steps that lead up to where her apartment was on the top floor of the building. When she reached the top of the steps, she found herself pausing in the middle of the hall way when she saw a female visitor stood outside her apartment door.

After hearing the sound of footsteps, the guest slowly spun around on their heels to come face to face with the person they hadn't seen in a very long time. Carly's eyes widened a little when she realised who had come to visit her. She couldn't quite believe for the second night in a row someone out of her past was stood at her door. That someone in fact happened to be Melissa Hastings.

Melissa's lip switched up into a tiny smile and they blinked several times trying to take in the sight of Carly whom they saw of the once teenager now adult. Melissa Hastings had been like a best friend to Carly late junior year of high school, the summer leading up to her senior year and throughout the senior year.

Even though Melissa was a few years older, the girls got on really well and both valued each other's ambitions for the future. Melissa had been the only one that year who Carly could depend on to bring her out of the bad and focus her back on the good. She was always looking out for and telling her to stay out of trouble even when Carly would do the complete opposite.

Melissa happened to be the last friend Carly saw that night when Alison went missing and happened to be the only friend Carly stayed in touch with for the first year she was out of town for. After then they had lost touch since Melissa was going through a lot back home and didn't want to have to get Carly involved. Plus Carly was heavily into her school work back then and tried to avoid anything that happened in Rosewood.

Because of that Carly thought that she would never see Melissa again, let alone have her turn up at her apartment door so unexpectedly. Melissa was probably the only friend from Carly's past that her father would approve of her getting closer to again. She would probably even be willing to reconnect with her after all these years.

Melissa knew a lot of her secrets, just like Carly knew a lot of hers and if they never wanted them to come out, then they needed to stick together. And for this part of her past for the first time, Carly wasn't afraid to jump back into a friendship with her old friend.

 **Author note: Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this part and don't hate me too much for making Carly send Jason away! As I said in the last part, it's kind of a slow burn but it's not over for them just yet, something always pulls them back together.**

 **Oh my god, I just want to say thank you so much for everyone who reviewed, favourited or followed since part 6: RHatch89, orianaxo, mavricktag, LiLuLo12, Little Liar, Happy4423, AshleyZiur, HOAfan8509, Grace1121, ToxicArt123, lalaa365 and twilight-wolflover.**

 **I really hope you liked. Let me know what you thought in a review if you wish to share.**

 **Thanks so much xx**


	8. The First

**The first:**

After the unexpected visitor outside her apartment for the second night in a row, Carly who was shocked instantly invited Melissa inside so they could have a proper chat and she could figure out what her ex friend was doing at her apartment that evening. It wasn't like they had kept in contact for the past couple of years, so Carly wasn't expecting a welcome home call/text from Melissa or even an appointment to meet with Mellissa when she was back in town, so to have her outside her apartment like that only made Carly surprised Melissa still wanted something to do with her.

Carly lead Melissa through into her apartment and advised her to take a seat and make herself comfortable on the couch whilst she made them a cup of tea and made herself something to eat since she had not had dinner yet.

The tension in the room was most certainly ringing with awkwardness and an ounce of apprehension as to how this situation was going to end up. Carly was nervous that Melissa had come round to have a go at her for losing contact with her or for not telling her she had come back to Rosewood. She never used to like getting on Melissa's bad side since she could be quite threatening and aggressive to those who had annoyed her. But she never meant any harm, especially to Carly as she only wanted what was best for her.

After a few minutes of silence, Carly took a glance over at Melissa who was staring down at her lap and looked away again as she finished making their tea. Once the tea was done, she checked on the already store prepared risotto that was cooking in the oven before carrying their tea over to the coffee table in the living space.

As Carly laid the drink down on one of the coasters on the table, Melissa flashed a small smile up at her in a thanking gesture and watched as Carly took a seat down on the other side of the sofa, her steaming tea in her hand which she blew lightly on to cool it down.

"Spencer told me you we're back," Melissa began breaking the tension between them. "I was quite surprised when she told me."

"Uh yeah I saw Spencer at the station the other night." Carly replied uneasily. She hated how everyone and everything made her so uncomfortable lately. But knew she would have to live with that when coming back home.

"She said," Melissa nodded with a smile. "I was actually at the station that same day."

"You were?" Carly asked confused. She had no remembered or seen Melissa there at all on her first shift. She had not even heard Tanner or Holbrook mention her name that day.

"Yeah I was brought in for questioning about where Spencer and the girls where." She told her and it didn't go unnoticed to Carly how vague she was being about it.

"Right." Carly half smiled back as both of the girls eyes met for the first time from across the couch.

"I'm not going to lie but I'm shocked you came back here," Melissa admitted leaning down to pick up her tea as Carly took a sip from hers. "I thought you wouldn't, not after everything what happened. But you did and you're brave."

Carly took her drink away from her mouth and turned her head slightly with a smile. She always knew Melissa had her back and was relieved that Melissa wasn't angry at Carly for not staying in touch. All of her doubts and worries could be forgotten about for the time being until they got into more depth details. She hoped that they would not bring up, certainly not today at least.

"I was not going to let what happened prevent me from achieving my goals, I learnt that from one of the best." Carly stated raising her eyebrows up as she did, referring to a time when Melissa use to tell Carly to focus on her goals before anything else.

Melissa laughed lightly and shook her head jokingly as Carly joined in with the laughter "I'm glad that stuck with you."

Finishing off her tea, Carly laid it down on the coffee table as Melissa took a large sip out of her own tea. "I'm sorry I never stayed in touch." Carly apologised she knew she had to.

She felt bad about it since Melissa had always been there for her. She just wished she could have done the same. But at the time her head was slowly starting to get in a better place and she wanted nothing to do with the past. It was easier to just ignore everything and everyone from that time, to help her get herself better in which she did.

"I should have been there for you. You we're going through such a bad time at home. Your whole world was falling apart and I was just being selfish." Carly added with a guilty tone in her voice.

Melissa shook her head in disbelief that the young women was apologising for wanting to get herself in a better place than to be there for her friend. She would never been mad at Carly for wanting that. Of course it would have been nice for them to stay close and up to date with each other's lives. But Melissa wouldn't drag Carly into the mess back home, she wouldn't let Carly know just how bad things had got and she wouldn't let her return home not until she was ready to.

"Stop apologising. It's not your fault. You did what was best for you at the time and I'm completely ok with that," Melissa explained finishing off her tea and edging closer to Carly on the sofa when she saw the guilty look still on her friends face "It's fine seriously."

Carly flashed her old friend a smile of sincerity and was thankful that there were no hard feelings between the pair. Before Carly had left Rosewood they both had been going through a lot and if it wasn't for Melissa that one day, Carly didn't know if she would have even made it through and survived what she had happened to her.

"It must have been hard for you though, everything that's happened over the past few years has not exactly been easy."

Carly knew about some of what went on when she had left as she did stay in contact with Melissa for just under a year. But most of what had gone on after she had found out for herself through newspapers or what she had already read in Alison's file.

"Trust me. It wasn't. It was pretty much hell the past few years with Alison going missing, Ian's death, and Garret's death, everything that Spencer has gone through and even all the mess between our family and the DiLaurentis family." Melissa sighed loudly placing her mug down beside Carly's on the table.

She couldn't even imagine how hard all of that must have been on not only Melissa but everyone else involved. Ian had been Melissa's husband, when Carly was around he had been Melissa's boyfriend who she actually happened to be pregnant with at the time. Carly knew about this and was one of the only people who did, even when Melissa had a miscarriage and lost the baby.

Carly had not known about her relationship with Garett until Melissa informed her of his death. Even hearing about it through a letter was too much for Carly to deal with since she was on her gradual road to recovery and hearing things like that not only distracted her, but made her afraid of what could come out about her. It was also one of the reasons why Carly stopped replying back to Melissa's letters, texts, calls and emails. It was too much for her to deal with. She needed to forget the drama back home.

"I'm sorry for what you went through." Carly told her genuinely because she did feel so bad for her losses.

"Stop apologising. I don't need your pity. What's done is done. We all learn from our mistakes." Melissa paused like she was unsure of what to say but went ahead with it anyway "I take it you heard about me and Jason?"

Carly's eyes bulged instantly at the mention of his name again, the images of last night flashing back through her brain and she felt an uneasy feeling form in the pit of her stomach. She was stupid to think that she could just forget about last night so easily when it had been a night she had always wanted. In the back of her mind she still had a lot of feelings for Jason, ones that would take a very very very long time to get over.

So after hearing Melissa say her name and Jason's name in a sentence, Carly couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealously and fear that they had been involved with one another whilst she had been gone. She knew that they had kissed before when Jason had drove her home one night but that was way before Carly had even gotten involved with Jason. But now all she could think of was the worst case scenario that they had a relationship and Melissa was now going to confess all.

"What about you and Jason?" Carly asked worriedly but hid her concern from Melissa well. She couldn't have her finding out about last night.

"I don't want to freak you out but…" Melissa breathed loudly. "He happens to be my half-brother now."

Carly scoffed under her breath and a puzzled expression formed on her face replacing the concerned one she had seconds before. "What do you mean your half-brother, since when?"

"Since my Dad had an affair with Jessica." She answered with a bitter tone.

Carly knew not to question more but she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. Jason and Melissa were related. Jason was Melissa and Spencer's half-brother. This meant that Alison and Melissa were related. This was so messed up and even though Carly was thankful they had no romantic links, she couldn't help but be confused at this news since she did not expect it all.

"That's crazy." Carly mumbled before the sound of the oven timer going off filled the room and she quickly rose to her feet.

Before making her way over to the kitchen, she took the two mugs they had drunk out of and brought them with her to the other side of the room. Carly laid them down into the sink and turned to check on the risotto that had been cooking in the oven. She was still trying to get her head around the idea of Jason, Alison, Spencer and Melissa all being related. It was bizarre but it seemed to make sense in some ways.

"It's even more of a reason to stay the hell away from that family," Melissa said to Carly from across the room as she was putting the risotto back in the oven for a while longer. "I hope you've been not seen much of Jason."

Carly felt her body freeze her back facing Melissa and her hand froze on the oven door for a few moments. She had no idea what to do or say next. She couldn't exactly lie but she didn't want Melissa to know about what happened between Jason and her last night. Why did these awkward situations keep happening to her?

"Uh..." Carly said quietly slowly closing the oven door but keeping her back to Melissa. "I haven't seen him much no."

It wasn't exactly a lie since she hadn't seen him that much since she had been back. It wasn't like she saw him every single day. She had only seen him at the Hasting's house that night and the funeral where they didn't even speak, at the brew yesterday with the smallest conversation, last night when he had come to say goodbye and this morning when she had practically forced him to leave. Apart from that she had stayed clear of him.

"Good because he is such bad news. You don't need him back in your life Carls. That family is messed up that's for sure." Melissa ranted on angrily and all Carly could do was listen.

She didn't need another pep talk from someone trying to make her stay away from him. She was her own person; she could make her own decision whether or not she wanted to be around Jason again.

"I should have never let you come round that day and then he would have never set eyes on you."

Hearing Melissa mention that day again caused Carly's mind to flash back to the time when her life had been nothing more than plain sailing, she had no idea that after that day everything including herself would change and she would begin that messed up year of life in which she spent the next three years getting better. But at the time, it was all exciting and new to her, she couldn't help but feel a little exited and intrigued.

 ** _~ Summer 2009 ~_**

 _It had been one of the hottest days of the year so far and lucky for all the students both at high school and college, it meant they could spend endlessly hours out in the sunshine with friends doing whatever they hell they wanted on their time off from their studies due to it being summer vacation._

 _At the end of Carly's junior year at high school, Melissa had come back home from college for the summer and that's when she had first met Carly when she had been working her after school shift at a small jewellery boutique in the centre of the town that Carly's dad's friend owned. The women who owned the store agreed to let Carly work there to earn some cash for not only herself but for her college also._

 _She had only been working there for a couple of weeks when Melissa came in the store one afternoon. It was like as soon as they spoke, they instantly clicked and it wasn't long before they were sharing each other's life stories. Carly was telling her all about her hopes and dreams of going to law school in New York to then later become a detective whilst Melissa explained all about her college studies and what her dream career was._

 _However weird it was there passion for their futures was what brought them together, Melissa kept coming into the store once or twice a week to browse but to also catch up with Carly. Even when Carly lost her job at the beginning of the summer because the old women had to close down and move to another state, they remained in contact and became close friends. They use to go round each other's houses, have sleepovers, go out shopping together and Melissa even took her to the place she was staying at in Pennsylvania for her studies. However large the age gap was between them, Carly knew she had a true friend in Melissa especially Carly's final year of high school._

 _Laughing loudly the two girls stepped out of the back doors of the Hasting's house hold; Carly was holding two bathing towels and some sunscreen whilst Melissa carried two glasses of refreshing juice for the girls to stay hydrated in the summer weather._

 _The sun continued to shine brightly in the sky making the air feel humid and hot but it didn't stop them from wanting to lounge around outside and make the most of the gorgeous weather they were having._

 _Carefully they made their way down the wooden steps leading onto the back yard grass area, the large oak tree in the back garden gave the steps and the house shade but where they planned on going was right in the middle of the sunshine._

 _Earlier on in the day Melissa had got out a sun lounger for herself and Carly to lay on that afternoon meaning that once the girls had changed into their bathing suits and got themselves some drinks, all what was left to do was to lounge around, gossip and hopefully get a much needed tan._

 _"I can't believe how nice this weather is." Melissa said to Carly as she laid the drinks down on a wooden outdoor table beside the two loungers._

 _Carly smiled back at her as she laid one of the towels down on her lounger and handed another over to Melissa in which she took along with the sunscreen. "I know this weather makes me want to just relax all day."_

 _"Well good job for you that's exactly what we're doing." Melissa smirked at her as she laid the towel down on her own lounger before picking up the two glasses and passing one over to Carly._

 _Carly took the glass from Melissa's grip with a giggle, it wasn't long before the two girls tapped their glasses together and took a sip out of the cool liquid which was instantly refreshing for them both._

 _As Melissa placed her drink back down and took a seat down onto her sound lounger, Carly began to lie out of her towel to lie on before Mellissa grabbed the bottle of sunscreen to rub on her body to protect her from the sun._

 _"Need a hand?" A loud male voice called from the front of the yard causing the two girls attention to turn to wherever the hell the comment had come from._

 _Mellissa felt her skin boil a little when she saw the smug faces of three guys she use to go to high school with and mentally had to stop herself from going over there and giving them a piece of her mind. Whereas on the other hand, Carly felt herself beginning to feel very insecure and uncomfortable to be in so little clothing in front of three older guys, who bearing in mind where staring intently at her and she had never even met them before._

 _However, one of them in particular with long dirty ash blonde bangs, hazily green coloured eyes, lightly coloured tan skin, broad shoulders and stood at a fairly tall height couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her. He was dressed in a grey round neck t-shirt, a pair of light brown shorts and a pair of grey lace up sneakers. In his hand was a cell phone unlike the other two guys who were carrying cameras. He was interesting to say the least and the way he was looking so intensely at her only could make her blush. She wished she would have covered herself up more now._

 _"What the hell are you freaks staring at?" Melissa barked at them, breaking Carly's eyes away from the guy she had been looking a little too long at and back on Melissa. "Haven't you got something better to do than stand around here?"_

 _"We were actually about to head out but I think the view here is a little better." The same tall boy with medium coloured brown hair and blue eyes, who had called out to them before spoke again. "You've definitely grown in all the right places since high school."_

 _"Go perv on someone else, Ian." Melissa snapped back at him grabbing her towel to cover herself up before motioning with her hand for Carly to do the same._

 _Carly quickly copied Melissa's actions before taking a seat down on her sun lounger trying to avoid contact with the guy who had been and was still staring at her. However, it didn't last long because she couldn't help but look back at him._

 _Once he had caught her looking back at him, his lips twitched up into a smile and she found herself biting down on her bottom lip to stop herself from giggling. She couldn't quite believe this guy was looking at her in such a daring way. It should have made her feel uneasy but it didn't. It made her feel mischievous and she enjoyed knowing an older guy was interested in her._

 _"You know you want me, Mel. Don't try to even deny it." Ian retorted back cheekily causing the other boy who was tanned with dark hair and dark eyes to laugh. However the one who had been staring at Carly remained silent as he was still looking at the teenager._

 _"Not in a million years." Mellissa hissed back at him before taking a seat on her lounger causing the guys to laugh louder at how easy it was to wind her up. "Now get lost."_

 _Taking it as their cue to leave, Ian and the tanned guy turned round on their heels to face one of the cars in the drive way of the house next door to Melissa's. From where the two girls were sitting, they could still see the smirks and laughter erupting from the boy's faces, even to Carly's disappointment the other guy had stopped staring at her leaving her to ignore whatever the hell she felt._

 _"Can you believe them?" Melissa groaned as she watched them wonder away from the drive way and disappear through into the woods that surrounded their houses, far away from where they were._

 _"Who were they?" Carly asked a little too interested, as she un-wrapped her towel from her body and laid it down behind her._

 _"They were in the same grade as me at high school. Ian Thomas was the annoying one who wouldn't stop talking, Garett Reynolds was the one who laughed at Ian's jokes and Jason DiLaurentis was the quiet one." Melissa informed her with a still annoyed tone._

 _Carly nodded her head in response as she looked over to where the boys once were whilst Melissa applied the sunscreen on her body._

 _A few minutes later, Melissa had finished with the bottle and handed it over to her younger friend. "Careful there's not much left with that." Melissa informed her as Carly took it from her hands and she lied down on her back on the lounger._

 _Carly stood up so she could apply the sunscreen to her body easily without any hassle. She rubbed in into her arms, legs, chest, tummy and shoulders before it eventually ran out on her. She would have to avoid laying on her front to stop herself from getting burn. She was slightly lucky since she tanned very easily and was naturally warm skinned anyway._

 _"What should I do with it now?" Carly asked motioning to the empty bottle as Melissa turned her head to look at her with a squint._

 _"Feel free to go toss it in the trash can over there." Melissa instructed flicking her hand over to the spot in the garden where the Hasting's kept their trash cans._

 _Nodding her head, she slowly wondered over to the trash can in the far end of the yard and pulled her hair away from one side of her neck to the other before she fanned herself with her free hand, trying to cool herself down in the blistering heat._

 _She had been in her own little day dream on the way over there that she didn't even realise the three guys perched behind a row of bushes that surrounded the property of the house. It was until she opened up the lid of the trash can and threw the bottle inside, that she saw them all smirking in her direction causing her to jump slightly._

 _Unsure of what to do or say, Carly gradually closed the trash can and tucked her hair behind her ear shyly. The guy who she had found out was named Jason and was also the same guy who had been staring at her, brought his finger up to his lips in a 'shhing' motion and sneered back at her._

 _Carly realised by his actions what he wanted her to do and without wanting to draw attention to them or her, she simply nodded back at him whilst returning the same smile and rubbing her lips together. She didn't want to ruin their fun especially when they had done nothing wrong to her. She wasn't one to hate someone just because another person did. She didn't seem any harm in them spying on the two of them and knew that deep down Melissa didn't mind Ian checking her out. It hadn't gone unnoticed to her that her older friend had something going on with him._

 _Spinning around on her heel, she left the boys too it and made her way back across the yard to join Melissa back at the sun loungers. Reminding her to not mention the fact that the guys were still lurking around the house, she couldn't have her friend fly off the handle again when she just wanted to relax for the afternoon._

 _From behind the bushes, Jason watched on as the teenager walked back over to the spot she had been in before. His eyes never left her body as he found herself checking her out for the second time that day already. Her long golden light brown hair which was slightly wavy cascaded down her back, her hips swung slightly as she walked, her bum looked peachy in the braided bright blue triangle bathing suit she was wearing which revealed her slim figure, average sized breasts and slight curves to her body. He couldn't help but want to grab her waist and pull her closer to him._

 _But he knew he couldn't and shouldn't be thinking like that. He had no idea who this girl even was. She was definitely younger than him and if she hung out with the likes of Melissa, then there was no way she would want to get involved with him. Also he happened to have a girlfriend, a girlfriend that he had only been with for a few weeks but it didn't stop him from looking at this girl._

 _But neither of them knew that after that interaction, they would be seeing a lot more of each other over that year._

 ** _~ End of Flash Back ~_**

The sound of the oven going off again broke Carly out of her thoughts and back to the cooking she had started when Melissa had first got here. She shook her head slightly at the past memory of when she had very first met Jason and how long ago that was now. So much had happened since then and it was crazy how much everyone had grown up also.

As Carly took out the dish from the oven and laid it on the side, Melissa got up from her space on the couch and made her way over to the kitchen area.

"I should probably get going now; I'll let you get yourself some dinner. Plus I've got a taxi waiting for me in the centre of town to take me to the airport to catch my flight to London." Melissa said breaking the silence that had surrounded them ever since Melissa brought up Jason and Carly had thought back to the past.

Carly glanced over at her as she turned off the oven and it was then she finally realised why Melissa had turned up with a suitcase. "You're leaving to go to London?"

"Yeah to go back to the apartment I own with my boyfriend Wren." Mellissa said with a happy smile as she grabbed hold of the suitcase at the door.

Carly came round to join her at the front door area and found herself returning the smile "He sounds very English."

"Trust me he is." The two women laughed lightly at this before a few moments later they both sighed somewhat contently.

"I'm really happy for you, Mel." Carly told her honestly. She was glad she was able to get away from town and be happy for once without the dramas of Rosewood.

"And I'm happy for you." Melissa grinned "I'm glad everything worked out for you."

"Me too." Carly chuckled lightly before stepping forward to engulf in a friendly hug.

The two girls hugged one another for a few seconds, their first hug in a very long time and it felt good that they could still remain friends despite the past and how they lost touch after. They both knew they would definitely stay in touch with each other this time.

The pair broke away from one another before Carly opened the door in which Melissa stepped out of the apartment and turned to face Carly one last time.

"Have a safe flight." Carly said.

"Thanks. I'll be in touch." Melissa nodded back as they waved goodbye to one another before she made her way down the stairs to exit the apartment block to go catch her taxi that was waiting to take her to the airport.

Once Melissa had gone, Carly finally managed to grab something to eat and demolished the risotto she had cooked for herself. Once she had eaten, she checked and replied to her emails, most of them concerning work before she took a long warm shower for a good twenty minutes and washed her hair so it was fresh for her morning shift the next day. A shift that she hoped she would arrive on time for unlike earlier.

After her shower, she changed into a fresh pair of PJ shorts and a tank top before she towel dried her hair so it was left to dry damp. By now it was nearing later in the night, she was getting more and more sleepy that she couldn't wait till her head hit the pillow, so she could sleep away the last two days of unexpected visitors. Not all of it had been as bad as she would have thought.

As she hung up the blazer she had been wearing that day, she reached her hand into one of the pockets and pulled out the bit of card Jason had gave her that morning. She stared at it for a couple of minutes, unsure of what to do with it since she knew she had to get over him now, it had been three years and a lot had changed since then. She got the goodbye and now it was time to move on.

But there was still this part of her that wanted to know he would always be there for her. He had been a big part of her life that year and she didn't want to just forget him like he was a piece of gum on the bottom of her shoe. So instead of chucking it away, she placed the card in the bottom of one of her draws on her bed side table before she tucked herself up into bed.

A wave of male scent and cologne filled her nostrils as she laid her head on the pillows causing her to let out a small sigh. It still smelled exactly like Jason from the night before and this morning when he had slept there. She promised herself that she must change her sheets the next day to get rid of any traces of him being here because it was making her feel even worse about letting him go.

After seeing Melissa so happy and content tonight made her realise how much she missed feeling happy and in love. She had missed the whole romance side of life. She had never been one for romantic relationships throughout her teenage years until Jason. Even then it wasn't exactly smooth or serious half the time since he was on/off with his girlfriend, they had both been drunk, Jason even high sometimes and Carly was going to be leaving after the summer. But to Carly, Jason was more than just a hot older guy with a mysterious lifestyle. He was the first guy she would even consider being with. And that's what made it harder to get over him.

But was getting over him what she really wanted deep down? Or was there that glimmer of hope in the back of her mind that had been there all these years that still wanted her to be with him?

* * *

 **Author note: I hope you all enjoyed this part. I decided to update a day early because I couldn't help myself really!S**

 **So a flashback into the first moment that Carly and Jason first saw each other, as well a bit of brief history of Carly and Melissa's friendship. As I said before, this is not the last of Carly and Jason but I will tell you now that there will be plenty of flashback scenes coming so prepare yourselves.**

 **Special thank you to everyone who reviewed the last part. I am so happy and grateful with the feedback I am getting. Also thanks to those who either favourited or followed as well, all those include LittleLiar, Iamdomonicfranco, venna26, RHatch89, LiLuLo12, Ashleyziur and brienodylan. Thank you guys so much!**

 **Thank you for reading. Let me know what you thought. I'd love to hear what you think.**

 **xx**


	9. Priorities

**Priorities:**

Thankfully the next day she actually arrived to work on time, she was even early which seemed to impress Lieutenant Tanner and Detective Holbrook who were in Tanner's office discussing Carly's first week of shifts regarding her performance and progress. She hoped it was going to all be good since she had been working her ass off since she had first got here. She had made sure all work was completed thoroughly and on time, made she was prepared for any tasks that could be thrown randomly at her and was even anticipating going along with the cops and detectives on assignments.

It had been a couple of hours into her shift when Holbrook remerged from Tanner's office with his usual charming smile on his face, he was carrying a folder in his hands and his cell phone in the other.

Carly looked up at him as he entered the office causing him to chuckle slightly at her observant eyes that morning. She had been watching him like a hawk all morning come in and out of Tanner's office waiting to hear of any form of information of how her review was going. She just wanted to know if they were happy with her so far and if she had a greater chance of staying at the station.

"I bet you're waiting to know what Linda and I were discussing." Holbrook smirked at her as he laid the folder on the table alongside his phone and closed the office door behind him.

"Of course I am." Carly stated like she was stating the obvious to him. Of course she wanted to know.

"Well good news is we can't see any problems with having you here. You've been a great member of the team, you're getting work done on time and to a good standard, you've haven't been slacking, you remained calm and didn't freak out when we've you took you to crime scenes." Holbrook explained walking over to her side of the desk where he leant up against the side of it and folded his arms. "You're determined, motivated and have the right attitude for the job."

"Why thank you." Carly smiled up at him from her seat. She was ecstatic to hear that and it finally felt like her hard work was paying off. It was such a confidence boost.

"The bad news is that it looks like you're going to be seeing a lot more of me then." He teased with his usual flirty tone.

She rolled her eyes playfully and scoffed at him "Unfortunately I am."

"You love being around me really." Holbrook joked as he laid his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it lightly.

"Yeah of course." She said half sarcastically and half seriously as she brushed away his hand. She did enjoy having his company since he was easy to be around and she got on with him well. But she didn't know if she could hack his flirtatiousness all the time, was he ever going to stop?

"Also we discussed the option of having you come out on more investigations at crime scenes and questionings," Holbrook told her taking his hand away as her eyebrows raised excitedly. "We both agreed that it would be good for you to gain more experience so expect to be spending more time away from the station over the next few weeks."

"Really? That's great." Carly beamed with a massive grin. She was so happy she was getting the chance to get involved.

He returned the smile back at her, before standing back up from the table and going over to his side of the desk. He took a seat down on his chair and looked over at her after he noticed she was still looking at him.

"What are you looking at?" Holbrook asked with a slight frown as he opened up a file to read.

"What are you on about?" Carly laughed shaking her head amused "The one time I look at you properly and you're so quick to question me. What about all those times you've been staring at me and I've never said anything."

"I don't know what you're on about Miss Monroe…" He tried to ignore her attempts at making him admit to have been staring at her on more than one occasion but failed when he broke out into a smirk.

"Don't pretend with me." Carly spat back at him jokingly as she burst into another fit of laughter.

"I can't help it if stare at an attractive young women can I?" Holbrook said casually causing her to stop laughing instantly.

She never thought she would hear him tell her that he found her attractive let alone do it so confidently and coolly like nothing mattered. She had always thought his charismatic personality was in his nature and his look at her had been more of observations of her work. She had no idea he actually thought she was good looking and seemed slightly interested? He had to be kidding.

"Don't be silly." Carly replied shyly.

She hadn't felt this shy around him since her first day at the station but even then she had an ounce of confidence to her when she spoke. She wanted to impress him but now she just felt hopeless and unsure of how to react. She had never been good with guys who were interested in her apart from one.

"What you think I'm joking?" Holbrook questioned and she kept quiet. "Believe me; I have tried to stop myself from asking you out on a number of occasions because sometimes I'm not sure what you feel."

"You have?"

Detective Holbrook nodded back at her as she rolled her eyes to the floor and away from him, feeling somewhat awkward and embarrassed to be left in this situation. Why did this have to happen?

"Go out with me." Holbrook proposed filling the silence that had took over for the past few seconds causing her to look at him in confusion.

"What?"

"I said go out with me." Holbrook repeated causing Carly to shake her head slightly not liking where this was going. "I'm asking you out to go out for dinner with me tonight."

She really did not know how to respond to that. It wasn't like that she didn't want to go or that she didn't like him, because if she was some normal woman who had been in previous relationships and was looking for someone new, then she might have said yes and been ecstatic.

But she wasn't. She had never been in a serious relationship. She had been on dates, seen people and had a bumpy reckless emotional past with Jason. There was no part of her that was capable of being in a relationship. Sure she thought Holbrook was ridiculously good looking, he had a stable job, he had a charming personality, and he was always supportive and seemed caring. But Carly was just not ready for this whatsoever. She had only just moved back to town.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Carly answered him with a hint of guilt in her voice. She really did hate disappointing people but that seemed to be one of the things she did the most. "I really don't want to mix work and relationships."

"It's not like I'm asking you to marry me, Miss Monroe," Holbrook teased as he leant his elbows against the table. "I just wanted to take you out to dinner."

"As I said I don't want to mix work with social activities." Carly reminded him.

Holbrook sighed in defeat before getting up from his spot and taking the file with him. She flashed him an apologetic smile as he looked over at her once again with a hurt expression.

Going over to the door, he pulled it open but turned his body slightly to face hers "The offers still there if you change your mind. You've got my number."

She nodded at him before he decided to leave and left here alone in the office to get on with the rest of the admin work she had to do for that day. She couldn't help but feel confusion as to how the hell she managed to get herself into these types of situations. She didn't quite plan on any of this happening when she came back to Rosewood. She thought she would keep herself to herself and live in constant routine. But there was always unpredicted mixes being thrown into her life.

* * *

Later on in the day after finishing work, Carly headed over to the local bakery to pick up her Dad some of his favourite pastries. She hadn't spoken to him since the incident after funeral; she had not even received a text message or phone call from him during that time, so it was a bit strange to not hear from him.

Carly still felt terrible about the way she acted towards her Dad and hated how she was always taking out her anger on him. She knew she shouldn't do it, that it was wrong when he was just trying to guide her in the right direction and stop her from falling back into old habits.

But she had every right to be angry with him at times. In order for her to move forward and be able to get over certain sensitive subjects, she needed her Dad to trust her and allow her to make bad choices, before she can realise the good, because everyone always does learn from their mistakes and she was no different to the rest.

She knew her Dad would not come to her and beg for her forgiveness because he was tough like that. He had to be when his daughter had been through the types of things she had. He had to be strong with her, he couldn't let her off easily, he had to set strict rules and if she didn't follow them then there would be consequences.

Carly understood this despite being her an independent adult now, but she knew if her Dad ever found out about the night she spent with Jason just recently, he would send her packing and get her on the next plane out of Rosewood. She didn't want to have to leave Rosewood again when she had just got back. So she had to promise herself to not let that one slip out and make sure that he never found out. Everything was done now with Jason anyway.

After picking up the pastries, Carly hopped back in her car and began the drive over to her Dad's house. The same house that use to be the house she grew up in and spend the whole of childhood up to her teen years living in. She was definitely feeling nervous about going back there since she hadn't been there since the morning she left town when she was eighteen years old.

She was now twenty one years old. She was a trainee detective. She had been to college. She had met new friends. She had gotten over the reckless damaged side of herself. Now she was left with a lot of guilt and anxiety about her old past, as well as her secrets coming out. But she was stronger now. She was a lot more mature, she was aware of her actions and she could cope a lot better. Plus she had to face her house someday. She couldn't hide away forever. And this would be a great chance for her to keep progressing.

Around twenty minutes later, Carly turned down her old street and pulled up outside the family home she used to live in. She slowly cut off the engine before pulling off her seat belt and looking up at the house through the window, the butterflies of nerves growing in the bottom of her stomach.

Everything about the house still looked the same. The house was still painted a pale blue colour; the white windows at the front of the house were closed with the same curtains draped round the inside, the white front door was still the same as well with two flower pots outside of it next to the door mat, the rose bushes that lined the outside yard were beginning to get over grown but the grass still remained neat. She knew her Dad liked to do some gardening when he had time off but she doubted he got a lot of that anymore. He was always so busy.

She was thankful that her Dad's car was parked in the drive way in the same spot like it always use to be, signalling that he was at home and that he wasn't at work. This meant that she would be able to try talk to him and apologise for what happened the other day. Then she would be back on good terms with him and could get rid of the bad feelings she felt between them.

Gradually Carly climbed out of her car bringing her bag and the pastry box with her. Before making her way up the garden path that led up to the front door, she locked up her car and took a deep breath. Once she reached the front door, she was debating whether or not to ring the bell or just come inside, since her Dad had given her a key if she ever needed to pop over or in case of an emergency. But she felt rude if she just wondered inside since it wasn't exactly her home anymore. She hadn't lived there in three whole years.

As she was about to ring the doorbell a voice calling her name pulled her away from the door and to the side of the house, where her Dad came from around the corner carrying a set of hedge sheers in his hand and a confused expression on his face to see his daughter outside his home.

"What are you doing here?" He asked as he came over to her more and it was then she noticed he was dressed in a casual pair of trousers and a loose shirt, as opposed to his usual attire of a suit or doctor scrubs.

She flashed him a shy smile as she wiggled the box of pastries up in the air "I thought I owed you an apology, so I bought over some of your favourites."

"You didn't have to do that Carls," John shook his head with a small smile as he wrapped his arm around his daughters back. "Come on let's head inside, I'll make you a cup of coffee."

She returned the smile as she let him lead him to the side entrance of the house which led through into the kitchen area. Just like the outside of the house, the kitchen still looked the same, the taupe coloured walls and the dark brown wooden flooring were the bases of the kitchen, alongside the white cabinets and grey marble surfaces, silver and red appliances, in the middle was an island and seats under so it could be used as a breakfast bar. Everything was just like what it was when she still lived there. It somehow was like she had never left.

Her Dad closed up the back door and went over to flick on the kettle to make them a drink. Carly found herself sighing as placed the box onto the work surface before she took in the kitchen space she once use eat all her main meals in and sometimes use to bake sugary treats in when she was kid. She couldn't believe how much she had changed but everything within the house hadn't, apart from one room in particular, one room that she was planning on avoiding.

"You didn't have to bring me these." John said catching her attention as he picked up the box of goods she got from the bakery.

"I know I didn't have to but I wanted to." She explained to him as she turned to face him more. "I really am sorry Dad. I should have never taken my anger out on you especially after all you've done for me, not just the last few years but my whole life."

John dropped his head slightly after hearing her apology, the corners of his mouth curled up into a small smile as an ounce of proudness came over him. Despite everything his daughter had been through, he was still insanely proud of her for everything she had achieved and was glad he raised such a wonderful person.

"Nonsense, Carls." John brushed off her comment and wondered over to one of the cabinets to retrieve two mugs as the kettle finished boiling. "I'm your father that's my job."

"But I can be so rude to you sometimes." Carly sighed.

"Just forget it," He told her as he poured the boiling water into the two mugs. "Now tell me all about what Tanner and Holbrook said about your performance so far."

"They were really impressed actually. They said I've been working really hard and I handle the job really well," Carly began to explain to him a massive grin appearing on her face as she thought back to Holbrook telling her the good news "Oh and they want to bring me along to more crime scenes and questionings."

"Wow that's Brilliant," Her father beamed excitedly before picking up their drinks and going over to her with them "I'm really proud of you."

"Thanks Dad." Carly grinned back at him as she took the mug from his grasp.

She blew on the liquid before taking a small sip out of the mug as a comfortable silence fell around them. Her eyes still training around the contents of her home where she could see through into the dining room and living space from one of the arch ways out of the kitchen.

"Have you heard much from Brooke since you've been back?" Her father asked breaking the silence.

"Uh yeah we've been emailing, texting and we had a phone call the other night." Carly answered before raising her eyes up at him and giving him a strange look. "On the topic of Brooke, why are you giving her life updates about me?"

"She told you about that?"

"Yes!" Carly exclaimed laying her mug down on the surface beside her. "You don't know how weird it is for to come to terms with that you two text each other on a daily basis."

"Brooke just wants to keep updated."

"Yeah and she can through me." Carly laughed as she rolled her eyes at how strange the situation was that her Dad and her best friend texted each other. "Also why did you tell her about Detective Holbrook?"

"I just told her that you're working with a very charming young detective who has seemed to take a liking to you." John tried to tell her but it wasn't working. Carly was way over dramatic about these times of things.

"Dad I don't even know how you know he has taken a liking to me?" Carly shook her head amused. "But I don't appreciate you trying to set me up with him either."

"Oh come on Carls." John sighed at his daughter. "When are you ever going to give a guy a chance?"

"God you sound like Brooke." Carly groaned running her fingers through her hair.

"Is it so bad that we just want you to find someone?"

"Yes it is when I don't want to be with anybody." She said a little too angrily.

She couldn't help it though. She hated how badly her Dad and her friends always seemed to push her towards guys she wasn't even interested in. She was always way too focused on her career to want to start a relationship.

"Apart from him though."

Carly felt her eyes widen slightly and her chest tighten when she realised who her father was bring up in to the conversation. All Carly could do was hide the nervousness she felt about talking about Jason again after their encounter the other night and replace it with annoyance that her Dad would even mention his name again.

"Don't Dad." Carly shook her head and glanced down at the floor below her. She couldn't believe he had brought up Jason and with so much ease. She thought he had hated him and had to convince him the past few years she did too.

"You know I'm right, being back here is obviously going to bring up a lot of memories and feelings. I understand if you've thought about him." John tried to reason with his daughter, despite his negative feelings about Jason and his involvement with his daughter all those years ago.

Carly choose to remain silent because she couldn't exactly tell her Dad about what happened between her and Jason a couple of days ago, she couldn't tell him that he had turned up at her apartment late at night and basically told her he wanted to have sex with her, in which she went along with and felt so horrible about the following morning. It wasn't exactly the right topic choice for a daughter and father to have.

"But this is a perfect opportunity to move on and find someone new, someone who will treat you right, who won't get you into bad behaviour and won't mess you around."

If this was three years ago, if Carly was still eighteen years old and her Dad was busting her for spending the night over at the DiLaurentis house, then coming home the following morning reeking of booze and with a horrible hangover then she may have actually defended Jason. But things were so much different now and she couldn't do that anymore.

"I get what you're saying Dad but I'm just not focused on relationships right now." Carly informed him taking a large sip out of her coffee as John finished his off.

"I understand especially when you say your career is number one priority."

"Good because Holbrook even asked me out to dinner tonight and I said no."

"What?" Her dad almost yelled at this news. He was being way over dramatic for her liking. Carly couldn't help but roll her eyes as she pulled her drink away from her mouth and went over to the basin to lay her mug inside of it. "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"

"As I mentioned before, it's not on my list of high priorities right now." She replied walking back over to him. "I told him no, he asked why, I told him that I don't want to mix work and relationships, which is true, end of story."

John went to object but Carly quickly held her hand up to stop him "Oh and don't you dare go tell Brooke about this." She added sternly.

"Fine I won't." John sighed and felt defeated about the fact his daughter was the one giving him orders, when he had been the one to give her instructions her whole life, not the other way round.

Carly flashed him a light smile before glancing around the house, unsure of whether or not she wanted to stay here much longer and explore the rest of her house to relive her old life, or to just head home and relax for the rest of the evening.

She honestly had no idea what to do because going back to one of the rooms was a huge step for her in her recovery, seeing all her old possessions and the space she grew up in mainly was going to be hard for her. But she wanted to get over this step.

"Dad." Carly said quietly before he glanced over at her to continue. "Are you working tonight?"

"Yeah the night shift as usual, why do you ask?" John answered with questionable eyes.

"Just wondering." Carly mumbled fiddling awkwardly with the leather on her jacket.

John could see how unsure Carly was about something and he guessed what the might have been. It was one of the subjects they had talked about when Carly had begun looking for jobs back in her old hometown. It was also one of the reasons why Carly had decided to buy her own apartment rather than moving back in with her Dad.

"If you want to go on up and look Carls. Nothing is stopping you apart from your doubts. I believe you can do it." John reassured his daughter as he grabbed her hand from across the surface and gave it a gentle squeeze.

She stared down at their hands for a moment, trying to take in everything that he was saying and tried to push back all the doubts she did have in the back of her mind. To others it probably seemed silly not wanting to go back to your old bedroom you grew up in. But for Carly it was like stepping back into her old life for a split second. It was something she found herself experiencing a lot more of recently and she was quite sure she could handle going back to her old bedroom, even if it was for just a few minutes.

"I'll let you go in your own time. I have a few things to sort out in the office before I start work. If you need me give me a shout." John told her before leaning over and planting a light kiss on her forehead.

She forced a smile onto her lips as she watched him unlink their hands and disappear off out of the kitchen to head to his study that was also downstairs. Exhaling loudly, she gradually made her way out of the kitchen just like her father had seconds before.

Once she was into the hall way of the house, her eyes rolled up to the wooden staircase that led up to the first floor of the house were her old bedroom was situated. Plucking up the courage, she began her journey up the stairs until she reached the landing.

A few steps onto the landing she came to her the bedroom door that she use to enter and exit a number of times throughout the day as a child till her teen years. It was a strange experience for her standing in front of the door because it felt like she had never left, but also it was like she was reliving her past all over again.

Her hand slowly came up take hold of the handle and after a few seconds of hesitation, Carly pushed it open before taking small steps into the room. Once she was inside she quietly closed the door behind herself and stood on the spot for a few minutes just taking in the sight she saw. Her eyes glanced around at the bright blue walls that used to have posters on of all the things she was obsessed with in her teen years, but were now bare and the paint work was chipping off.

The room was more spacious than what she had remembered of her last time there. It was pretty much empty now despite the double bed and mattress she used to sleep upon, a number of boxes were spread over the cream carpet packed up of old clothes, old shoes, school work and other objects her father couldn't bear to throw out yet without her permission.

The only piece of furniture that remained apart from her old bed was the set of draws on the right hand side of the room. Sitting on top of the surface of the draws was a few photo frames positioned neatly across the top, dust had fallen on the wood of the draws and on top of the frames. However it didn't matter to Carly, since what was inside those frames was more important to her.

She slowly wondered over to the photos before she picked up one of the frames and took a long hard look at it. The picture she was holding was an image of her and two of her friends from high school on the day of their graduation. She had been friends with these two girls, Annie and Katie since middle school through into high school.

They had been so close pretty every single year until Carly began to get involved with the wrong crowd. At first Carly tried to juggle the two side of her social life which involved meeting up with her two best friends for study sessions or to just simply hang out, as well as going out to parties at the weekend, hanging out with Melissa and getting involved with Jason.

It had worked the first few months until her friends began to notice a change in Carly, especially when she use to cancel her plans with her friends to go be with the older group of friends she had made. It had bothered them at first when they had found out the real reason why Carly was seeing them less and less. But towards the end of it, they knew that once high school was over, they would be going their separate ways anyway and would hardly see one another.

And for that reason they decided to remain civil with Carly and allow her to venture off if she wanted to. Because at the end of the day they couldn't stop her and once they were all at college, they had their careers to think about it. But for the final day of high school, the graduation ceremony they had come together again as friends for one last time.

Smiling slightly, she laid the photo back down onto the draws and her eyes scanned the other two pictures. One of them was a picture of her and her father at his fortieth birthday party, she had only been fourteen at the time, her light brown hair was hooked behind her ears and flicked out at the ends, she had a massive grin on her that shew off the braces on her teeth and she was hugging her father tightly. She missed how happy and innocent she looked there. It was the same on the other picture of her and her grandma who she sadly lost around five years ago. However on this picture she just a baby and her grandma was holding her in her arms. She wondered if her grandma would have been proud of the obstacles she had gotten over and where she was at right now.

Blinking back the tears that had formed in her eyes, she shook her head and with a small smile before she turned away. Almost instantly something caught her eye sticking out from under the side of her bed and she felt her heart speed up when she figured out what it was.

Moving over to the bed, she bent down onto the ground to pick up the box and bring it back up to the mattress. She laid it down on the mattress and took a seat down beside it. Her fingers quickly pulled open the two latches of the box to reveal an assortment of different items that had been from that year before she left to go to college. She knew she shouldn't have looked it in there but she couldn't help herself. If she had to get over her past and Jason, then this could be a good way of letting it go.

Reaching into the box, she pulled out a pile of photos that had an elastic band around them to keep them all together. Carefully she untied that elastic band and began to flick through the old photographs. Most of them were pictures she had took over the course of her senior year when she had hung out with Jason and his friends, as well as Melissa.

In pretty much every single one, someone in the picture had been drunk and the rest of the group of them tipsy. She found herself smiling a little as she reminded herself of some of the happier times when she had hung out with her older friends. The smiles on their faces could only mask the real issues that were going on between them at the time.

One image in particular made Carly's heart sink a little. It was taken at the beginning of the summer when they had hung one summer evening out in the woods that backed onto the DiLaurentis and Hastings properties. Jason was sat up against a tree trunk, dressed in a grey and navy blue coloured long sleeved t-shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a pair of blue jeans, his hair was longer than it was now and perched in between the middle of his legs with his arms around her front was Carly.

She was dressed in a pair of dark blue denim shorts, a dark blue and grey plaid shirt and a tight fitted V-neck tank top, her light hair was plaited to the left side of her face and she was wearing a light covering of makeup. Both she and Jason were grinning up at the camera, that she could remember Ian was holding at the time, he always seemed to be carrying some form of recording equipment. They both looked happy together and probably were even a little buzzed. They looked like they didn't have a care in the world and Carly missed that.

It wasn't only how close and content they looked in an embrace like that what upset her; it was the fact that on her wrist was a burgundy coloured rubber bracelet. Her eyes widened a little when she saw it, it wasn't long before she put the photos down and was searching through the cardboard box again.

Her hands gradually came up out of the box moments later, her fingers hooked around the rubber material that was once Jason's bracelet and what he had given to her one day, it made her chest tighten and the tears from before to reappear in her eyes once again.

She had hated that day with a passion. It was the same day Jason had got back with his ex-girlfriend, Cece Drake. The two girls had never seen eye to eye simply because Cece thought of Carly as a threat and Carly saw her as someone who tried to ruin Jason at every given opportunity. She saw right past her fake sweet attitude and saw a cold hard bitch who couldn't take rejection or being in the wrong.

That bracelet seemed like another reminder to her of how messed up her life was back then. It was like another punch in the face of why she should have been getting rid of this part of her life for good. She had got over the major issues and next on her list was moving on from Jason.

And after seeing that bracelet, the memory of Jason and Cece was enough for Carly to throw the bracelet and including the pictures back into the box messily. She quickly closed the lid of the box and shoved it back under the bed out of sight, as well as hopefully out of mind.

She couldn't keep doing this to herself. It was time to get over him. Whatever the hell was holding her back needed to get lost. She had to do something fast before she broke and she couldn't do that because she had been acting so strong for so long now. She couldn't let her dad hear her break again.

Standing up off the bed, she fought off the urge to cry or take out her anger on something in the room. She pulled her phone out from the pocket of her blazer and scrolled through her contacts until she found one number in particular.

Pressing the call button, she brought the device up to her ear before waiting to hear the dialling tone end. Within a couple of seconds, the ringing stopped and a voice picked up on the other end of the call.

"Hey Gabe, it's me Carly." She breathed letting out all her negative emotions. "I would like to take you up on the offer of that date." The frown from before was replaced with a slight smile. "Great so I'll see you at Rive Gauche around eight."

After she heard the other person agree to meet her then and bided her goodbye, she took the phone away from her ear and hung up. A light sigh escape her lips as she spun around on her heels to exit her old bedroom room, as well as exit her past once and for all.

Tonight was exactly what she needed to move on. All she could do was try at least, even if it was going to be unfamiliar territory to her and perhaps a little awkward. But if she remained focused and forgot about her horrid past, then maybe just maybe it might actually work.

Tonight was the night she got over Jason once and for all.

* * *

 **Author note: I hope you enjoyed this part. As I keep saying, this is not the end for Carly and Jason. It someways it is only just the beginning.**

 **I love hearing what you guys think and I really appreciate it if you take the time to review, favourite or follow so thank you to RHatch89, LiLuLo12, LittleLiar, 15ls, HOAfan8509, Nia253 and RosePetals41 for doing that.**

 **If you wish to do so, then let me know your thoughts on this part and where you think this story is headed.**

 **Many thanks for reading**

 **xx**


	10. Other Part

**Other Part:**

The sound of her white strappy heels clicking along the pavement was one of the few noises that could have been heard that night in Rosewood town centre. It was just a little after eight in the evening when Carly had arrived in town and parked her car on the road side, about twenty five yards away from the restaurant she had agreed to go to for her date.

The butterflies in her stomach grew as she came to the front of the restaurant, which had two large open windows on either side of the entrance door. She could already see her date sat inside at one of the two seated tables, towards the middle of the right hand side of the room. He was anxiously looking down at his wrist watch and back over to the window again, only this time he spotted Carly stood outside and beckoned her in.

Flashing a half smile in his direction, she headed towards the door and made her way into the restaurant. The smell of fresh food cooking instantly hit her and the chatter of the guests already seated filled the busy restaurant.

A young male waiter approached her upon her arrival and guided her over to where her date was sat. Once he saw her coming towards him, he got up out of his chair and was onto his feet within no time. The waiter left them too it as Carly went to grab the chair to sit herself down but her date immediately stopped her, instead replacing her hands with his own and moving the chair out for her.

"You don't have to do that." Carly told him turning her head to the side to look at him.

"I want to, Miss Monroe." He replied gently before nodding down to the chair. "Please take a seat."

Laughing under her breath at his charming ways, she sat herself down on the chair as he pushed it in a little and retook his own seat at the table. She laid her clutch bag onto her lap and looked across at him; as per usual he was already gazing at her.

"I'm actually surprised you called me." Holbrook told her.

"Yeah well let's just say something changed my mind." She smiled at him before glancing down at the drinks and appetizer menu in front of her on the table.

"Well I'm thankful for whatever it was." He chuckled as he copied her actions and she looked over at him seeing how happy he actually was.

However weird and nerve racking this was for her in this situation, out in a fancy restaurant in the middle of town with the guy who was basically her boss and the lead detective on the cases she had been assigned to, she was kind of glad she accepted the offer since it would help her forget about Jason and she was pleasing Holbrook in the meantime.

"So have you ever eaten in this place before?" Holbrook asked her in which she shook her head.

"No never," She answered him. "My dad's not really a fan of French food so we never visited here. But I'm not particularly fussy so this is great."

Holbrook nodded in response "I remember you telling me that you grew up here the first night we met, although I was being pretty rude and nosey at the time, which I do apologise once again for."

Carly thought back to her first night at the station in which Holbrook had questioned her about her where abouts the summer Alison went missing. It was a sensitive subject for her especially when it was the first couple of days of her being back in town. Although it had been way over a week since she had come back and that subject wasn't as raw. But it still held a lot of secrets Carly prayed would never get out.

"It's fine honestly," Carly reassured him "I'm so over it. I get it. You're a detective you want to know everything."

"I never wanted to integrate you though, Miss Monroe." He replied with a guilty tone in his voice "I just wanted to get to know you better."

"Well you can tonight." She offered with a warm smile.

If it didn't involve anything about her relationship with some of the suspects on the case, about what she was doing of the night Alison went missing, what trouble she got herself involved with and what she went through afterwards then she would be fine with opening up to him.

"I like the sound of that."

Before she got the chance to answer, the male waiter who greeted Carly on her arrival came over to the table ready to take their first order of drinks and starters. He turned to Carly first with his notepad and pen at the ready waiting for her choices.

"Um I'll just have a sparkling water please with no starter." She informed him in whom he nodded and jotted down her drink, before turning to face Holbrook.

"And you sir?" The waiter asked him as Holbrook glanced down at the menu again.

"Um I'll pass on the starter as well." He said before looking over at Carly. "Why don't we share a bottle of wine? My treat."

Carly face fell instantly at the mention of an alcohol substance. She could fell her heart speed up in her chest and her palms heating up under the table. She didn't know how to react to this. She had not been offered any form of alcohol for years and hadn't consumed any since her last night in Rosewood. She was not prepared for this whatsoever.

If she would have known this was going to happen she would never had agreed to go one a date with Holbrook. It was something she hadn't even thought about it and now she was being faced with her past demons. But she couldn't let Holbrook aware of her problems and had to get around it somehow or another. It wasn't going to be easy though since he was a detective who could tell when someone was lying or acting strange.

"U-u-uh no I'm fine with my water thanks." She stammered laying her elbow on top of the table and fiddling with the back of her earring nervously.

"Uh ok." Holbrook mumbled confused and glanced up at the waiter "I'll just have an lemonade please."

"Sure." The waiter said taking the two menus off the table in front of them both and replacing them with the main menu. "I'll be over shortly with your drinks and to take the rest of your order."

Once the waiter was out of sight Holbrook turned his head back towards Carly and gave her a strange look. All she could do back was give him the best fake smile she could in that situation. She couldn't let him find out she had a past problem with alcoholic. It would not only ruin her but her career also.

"You ok?" Holbrook asked since it had not gone unnoticed to him how her mood had changed within a matter of seconds, pretty much ever since he had brought up the offer of wine. Why was she acting so strange about it?

"I'm fine." She lied before laying her hand back down under the table and readjusting herself in the seat, due to the nerves making her feel like she couldn't sit still.

An awkward silence lingered over them since Holbrook was trying to work out what the hell was wrong with her and Carly was trying her very best to act calm, like nothing was wrong and that she could actually do this without messing it all up. She just needed Holbrook to forget about it and fast. Also they were trying to make a decision of what they were going to have to eat, although Carly really wasn't feeling like eating anymore after that.

The waiter came back over to the table a few minutes later with their drinks in his hands. Once he had reached the table he sat their drinks down in front of them and grabbed his notepad again to take their next orders.

"What can I get for the both of you?"

"I think I'll go for the steak frites please." Carly told him closing up her menu and handing it over to the waiter.

The waiter took the menu from her grasp once he had finished writing and turned to face Holbrook. "I'm going to go with the grilled Atlantic salmon."

"Brilliant." The waiter said before he took the other menu and wrote down the last order.

"Uh man I don't mean to be annoying but do you think I could swap drinks?" Holbrook quickly requested causing Carly to frown puzzled.

"Of course Sir." The waiter approved picking up the drink Holbrook had previously ordered.

"Can I have a beer please?"

The waiter nodded before wondering off towards the kitchen, leaving Carly with a panic feeling flooding through her body about the possibility of having an alcoholic substance just across the table from her. She didn't quite know how she was going to be able to handle this but hoped that whatever the hell happened it went smoothly.

Holbrook continued to observe Carly's mannerisms throughout the rest of the time and even when his drink arrived. It didn't go unnoticed to him that when the drink was sitting on the table after the waiter had brought it over, Carly had avoided looking at it or down at the table at all costs. It made him question more why she was acting so weird and he was trying to brush off the idea of her having some sort of problem.

If only he knew the half of it.

* * *

The rest of the dinner seemed to go thankfully well despite how uneasy Carly was feeling about the alcohol being present on the table but she managed to keep her calm and not crumble right there. She had actually enjoyed her meal and the conversation between the two of them seemed to flow really well. Holbrook had even managed to make her laugh multiple times and it felt good to laugh for once. She really needed a night out and was glad she accepted the date in the end.

For Holbrook with regards to him watching Carly's eye move, he also had enjoyed himself that night. He loved being around Carly at work because they both worked well together, could be serious about work related topics but also have a joke and a casual conversation when it was ok to. But even at dinner he seemed to grow to like her even more than he had before. He had learnt little aspects of her life growing in Rosewood such as what her favourite hobbies were, where she would hang out when she was young, what clubs she was in at middle school, her grades at high school and her relationship with her Dad. He was beginning to even picture himself progressing further with the young woman. She was definitely someone he would love to spend his future with.

"So I heard your Dad was a doctor at the hospital." Holbrook said continuing the conversation about Carly and her Dad's relationship.

"Yeah he's the famous Rosewood emergency doctor." Carly joked as she finished off the last piece of her steak and laid the cutlery down onto the plate.

"Wow so you've got a father who's part of the public service and now you his daughter is." He smiled at her from across the table.

"Yeah guess it must run in the family wanting to help people." She giggled wiping her mouth with the napkin.

"Just like your mom?"

Carly stopped what she was doing with napkin and turned her head slightly to the side with a small smile. "You know about her?" She asked shocked he was aware of her.

"Yeah doesn't all Rosewood past and present cops?" Holbrook said like he was stating the obvious.

She couldn't help but laugh slightly under her breath in amazement that people still remembered her mom after all this time. She was quite surprised that her mom had made such an impact on not just the people of this town but those who were part of the force.

"That's so weird." Carly laughed causing Holbrook to smile hearing her laugh. It felt so good to him to hear her laugh.

As Holbrook went to speak again the waiter interrupted the two of them as he came over to collect their plates and present them with the bill. Carly and Holbrook both thanked him for his service as they both began to pull out their purses/wallets to pay for their meal.

"You're seriously going to try not letting me pay again?" Holbrook teased as he threw a $50 bill down onto the table before Carly even had the chance to sort her money out.

"Yes I can't let you pay for me again." Carly told him pushing the note he had put down back towards him and replacing it with a $30 for her own meal.

"I meant what I said that day when I said there would be other times when I treat you, such as our first date which is I think what we're on now." Holbrook motioned between the two of them with his fingers before pushing his note forward and picking up her note.

Carly raised her eyebrows up at him with a light smirk gracing her plump lips as Holbrook handed her the note back. Rolling her eyes in defeat, she took the note from him and tossed it into her purse.

They both got up from their seats and made their way towards the exit of the restaurant. Holbrook kindly opened the door for her and let her go through it first, before he followed shortly after. They began a slow peaceful walk over to her car which was still parked on the side of the pavement. There was a breeze in the atmosphere which caused Carly's arm to erupt into goose bumps making her regret not wearing a jacket over her pink nude strappy bodycon dress.

When they had reached her car, they both turned to face each other before Carly spoke up "I really had a great time tonight," She told him honestly "So thanks."

She really had enjoyed herself. Her main aim was to try get rid of her past once and for all, as well as get over Jason. Despite the alcohol incident, she had slowly eased her way back into the dating sides of her life and towards getting over Jason. However it was still going to take some time to completely forget how she felt. But Holbrook could be a good possible distraction in the future.

"Me too Miss Monroe." Holbrook smiled at her and it wasn't long before silence fell over them again.

Holbrook took this as his chance to make a move on Carly since he had been wanting to since the first time he had seen her that evening. He had also been thinking about what it would be like to hold her and kiss her over the course of the week. Now that they had their first date and seemed to be getting on really well, he hoped that she was just as interested and would return his feelings.

Slowly he leaned in closer to her, his eyes drifting down from her lips and back up to her eyes. He was just inches away from kissing her when Carly realised what he was doing, causing her to freak out and spin her head to the side to stop it from happening.

His lips awkwardly came in contact with her cheek making Carly cringe a little at how awkward and embarrassing this must have been for him. But she couldn't have him kiss her and get the wrong end of the stick. She wasn't ready for that yet. She wasn't ready for a relationship when she was still hung on someone else.

He quickly stood back up straight and gave her a sheepish smile in which she shook her head with a smug look on her face. She had to bite down on her bottom lip to try and stop herself from laughing at how awkward this was. The office certainly wasn't going to be the same again.

"I'm sorry about that." Holbrook apologised putting his hands into his pockets on his pants, whilst she shook her head in as to say forget it.

"I'll see you on my next shift." Carly said wanting to get away from this situation as quickly as she could.

Holbrook remained quiet but nodded his head as Carly unlocked and opened up the driver's side of the car, before getting into it and closing the door behind herself. Not once did she look back at Holbrook, as she laid her clutch bag on the passenger seat and started the engine of the car.

Within seconds, she pulled away from the road side and headed back towards her apartment block. She breathed a sigh of relief when her car was out of sight from Holbrook and was certainly grateful that was one of two of the strange moments of her date that night. She was glad it wasn't a complete disaster after all but didn't see herself going on anymore dates with Holbrook anytime soon, especially if he was going to be trying to kiss her after every one.

She was also so proud of herself for not losing it in front of alcohol. She had never imagined herself to get so close to a drink again. But she was glad she didn't freak out or react badly to the situation. Even though she felt uneasy and like she couldn't stand to be there, a part of her was glad she could cope and sat through it without running away. Her Dad and Brooke would be so proud of her.

Just as she pulled away from the traffic lights and turned the corner down one of the streets, two figures walking closely by one another suspiciously caught her eye causing her to slow down a little as she approached them.

As the car edged closer to the pair, she could make out that the short blonde wavy haired teenager was clutching the tall bald guy beside her as if she was drunk and couldn't stand up on her own.

From her view in the driver side of the car, she could make out that the girl who was stumbling on her two feet was actually Hanna Marin, friends with Alison DiLaurentis and the other girls including Spencer and Aria who had turned up at the station last week.

Rolling down the passenger window, Carly slowed down the car and stopped against the curb on the side of the road causing the two teenagers to turn to face her. The guy who she had never seen before from when she use to live her and now, gave her a confused look when he realised Carly had stopped beside them.

"Uh can I help you miss?" The guy asked turning to face her with Hanna wrapped under his arm.

Once Hanna had uneasily spun around on her feet to look where Travis was looking, she blinked in confusion at the car and pulled a small smile once she had realised who was driving it.

"I-i-it's C-c-carly Monroe." Hanna stumbled over her words and wobbled on her feet slightly.

"She's drunk isn't she?" Carly asked stating the obvious.

"Uh…" Travis mumbled looking around his surroundings not sure if he should even answer that question since both of them were underage and could get in trouble if the police found out.

For some strange reason, Carly couldn't help but want to help the pair out since she felt like she could totally relate to the situation Hanna and Travis happened to be in. During her final years of high school there would be a number of times when she would be the one stumbling down the street drunk out of her ass and have one of her friends trying to hold her up right, as well as making sure she didn't vomit on her shoes or run off somewhere.

Even though Travis seemed like a nice enough guy and like he was close with Hanna, Carly couldn't help but feel responsible within her job and as an older female to take over from Travis, to make sure that Hanna got home safely without getting to trouble on the way.

"Get in the car Hanna." Carly instructed reaching over to unlock the passenger door, in which Hanna moved slowly forward to jump inside before Travis grabbed her wrist to pull her bag.

"You're just going to go jump in some stranger's car?" Travis asked Hanna with a worried tone.

"Relax Travis." Hanna brushed him off and rubbed the top of his head causing him to edge away slightly. "I know Carly."

Carly gave Travis a reassuring smile as Hanna hopped into the car and slowly put on her seat belt. "Relax Travis. I'll get her home safely and within no time."

Without saying another word, Travis closed the door behind Hanna and watched as Carly pulled away from the curb before heading back down the road to where she remembered where Hanna lived.

Unlike Aria, Carly had never been very close with the other girls within the friendship circle. She had gotten on well with Spencer since she is Melissa sister and Carly use to spend time over at the Hasting's house. But with Hanna, Emily and Alison she had never had a proper conversation with them due to them not really having any connections. Also Alison acted like she hated Carly's guts, so Carly would never waste her time getting to know someone who didn't want anything to do with her.

Although just like everyone else in this town, Carly knew of everybody and that included where they lived, as well as how old they were and who they hang around with. Most of the time it was a disadvantage that everyone knew each other's business, but sometimes it came in handy especially when giving drunken teenagers rides home in the middle of the night.

"So how did you end up in this state?" Carly asked interestedly to hear the theory behind this. There was always something behind someone getting in a bad state.

"I went to a party."

"And you had way too much punch I guess?"

"You guessed right."

"Why?"

Hanna looked at her puzzled "What do you mean why?"

"What are your reasons for getting wasted on a school night?"

Hanna went silent for a moment, debating whether or not she should be honest since she hardly knew Carly. She had no idea what she would do with the information she was going to give her. But if Aria and Spencer liked her then she guessed she could too.

"Caleb's back."

Carly felt her stomach tighten slightly after hearing Hanna's words and that the situation the teenage was in seemed way too familiar to Carly. She felt unsure of what to say next since her own thoughts were getting the better of her.

After a few moments of silence between the two, Hanna turned her head slowly round to face Carly in the car with a deep frown, causing Carly to turn her head slightly to look at her and then back on the road "What?"

"I thought you were a cop now." Hanna queried in which Carly nodded back thankful that they were on a different topic now. "So aren't you going to arrest me for drinking?"

Carly shook her head slightly and laughed lightly under her breath which only made Hanna more confused. She shifted slightly in her seat so that she could look at Carly more, although due to her drunken head right now she could see a lot more than one of her.

"What's funny?"

Carly came to a halt at one of the traffic lights and turned properly to face Hanna "Let's just say that I've been there and done that."

"Y-y-you've been drunk underage?" Hanna asked in disbelief with a smug look on her face.

Carly remained silent as the lights changed and she turned her head back on the road as she continued the journey to Hanna's house.

"I thought Carly Monroe was a goodie too shoes who focused highly on her education."

"That was only part of her." Carly answered.

"What was the other part?" Hanna pushed as Carly turned down Hanna's road, her house now coming into full view.

Keeping quiet, Carly pulled up outside Hanna's house a few seconds later and shut off the engine. Hanna unbuckled her seat belt, her eyes never leaving the older girl's beside her as Carly took the key out of the ignition and looked ahead of her.

"Well?"

Carly lowered her head slightly as she knew Hanna was still after an answer with her and she knew that she couldn't hide away from that side of her anymore. But on the other hand, if she told Hanna would she even be able to remember this conversation they were having by the morning, since Hanna was very intoxicated.

"The good side I guess was a front, that was masked by the other part of me, that use to enjoy being reckless." Carly told her truthfully before stepping out of the car and wondering round the other side to help Hanna out.

Hanna who was slightly in shock and confusion at the slight revelation, she tried her best to pull herself out of the car and with the use of Carly's arm's to hold onto she did.

The two girls unsteadily wondered up the front path of the Marin household which was dark inside apart from the dim light coming from one of the front rooms. Once the two girls had reached the front door, Carly rang the bell and waited for someone to come open it.

After a few seconds, the door slowly opened up to reveal Ashley Marin, Hanna's mom on the other side. At first she was puzzled to see Carly at the door because she didn't really know her but her face dropped slightly when she saw Hanna dangling beside her.

"Hanna! What the hell happened?" Ashley questioned in astonishment, clearly embarrassed and disappointed to see her daughter in the state she was in.

"Relax Mother I'm fine." Hanna waved off her comment and tried to stand up without the use of Carly to prove her point.

However it was no use when she staggered around on the door step and stumbled into her mother's arms inside the house. "Hanna! You're wasted."

"State the obvious Mom." Hanna rolled her eyes and laid her head on her mother's should which caused Carly to speak up.

"Um Ms Marin, I'm Carly, I work at the police station, I thought I would give Hanna a lift home since I spotted Travis struggling to walk Hanna home in her state." Carly explained.

"I apologise now for Hanna's behaviour. Trust me my daughter is not normally like this." Ashley tried to defend Hanna.

"It's completely fine, Ms Marin." Carly reassured her giving her a small smile. "I better head home now, try sober up Hanna."

"Thank you Carly. I promise you that you'll never see Hanna in a state like this again." Ashley replied as Carly nodded her head back before turning on her heel to head back to her car.

On her journey back to her car she could hear the sound of Ashley questioning her daughter again what the hell happened and why she was acting the way she was, which Hanna could only respond with jumbled words and sentences from the alcohol before the door closed as Carly reopened her's.

Jumping back inside, she placed the key into the ignition and just sat there for a while thinking. She thought back to the time when she use to come late at night or the night morning and have similar conversations as to what Hanna and Ashley were having but with her Dad instead.

She thought back to the disappointed and ashamed look on his face when he saw that she was still dressed in last night's clothes, her makeup smeared around her face, her hair slightly messy, her breath and body reeking of alcohol, as well as the smell from the drug fumes she had been around.

It was that side of her that she had mentioned to Hanna ever so briefly, the side of her that she could never go back to and her Dad would do more than send her away to New York this time. She was pretty sure he would never want anything to do with her again.

She was so glad that she had her life sorted out for her now and that she could move on from that part of her life. She had a job, she was working towards her dream career, she had good friends, and she had her Dad for support and her own place. Life was good for her.

Being reminded of her past now was just never an option now.

Or so she thought.

* * *

 **Author note: I can't believe we're already on part ten! That's crazy! I really hope you guys have been enjoying the story so far and liked this part. Sorry there was no Jason/Carly again, but I hope there was some hints within this part that will have given you guys an idea about what happened that summer and how it has affected Carly's life now.**

 **Special thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favourited or followed since the last part, LiLuLo12, ColdHeartAngel, venna26, RHatch89, TheRandomOne, Am4444, Courtney-Tamara, JessBoobear, laymetosleep33 and pureoxide22. Many thanks to you guys.**

 **Also thank you to everyone who read this part. I love to hear what you think so feel free to drop me a review with your thoughts.**

 **Many thanks again**

 **xx**


	11. Play Bad Girl

**Play Bad Girl:**

It was around noon when Carly had actually gotten out of bed and ready the following day. However since she didn't have work that day she decided she was just going to head into town to go for a little bit of shopping, grab some lunch and just relax for the rest of the day since things had been a bit busy at the station, she was only now getting use to her new schedule.

Although she missed being in the routine of getting up, getting ready for work and then being at the station for most of the day, it was actually nice to be able to relax and do her own thing without having to carry out number of tasks to a tight schedule. She had not had a day yet to just relax and visit some of the places in town.

She would have loved to spend the with her Dad or her friend Brooke but with her father working late shifts last night then sleeping through the day and Brooke in another state in the country, it was impossible for her to be accompanied on her trip out.

Carly exited out of her apartment building in some mid-wash ripped at the knee skinny jeans, a navy and white striped crop t-shirt, a light grey blazer jacket, tan leather tassel loafers, a tan leather tote and her hair was straightened with her usual nude coloured makeup.

She decided to walk into town since it was quite a nice day outside for the time of year and it would make a change from the driving. It only took her twenty minutes to reach the centre of town where she first headed towards the Brew to grab a drink and something to eat since she had missed breakfast due to being in bed.

She ordered herself a coffee and a toasty, before making her way back out of the Brew and heading towards the main shopping area of the town to look for some new bits to make her home a little more 'homely'.

* * *

Carly returned home later that day around 5pm with some groceries, a few ornaments and pictures for her home decorations, as well as some new clothes to add to her wardrobe.

She was feeling pretty worn out and hungry from walking around town all day, as well as heading to the mall so she decided to put some food in the oven and make herself a nice refreshing glass of water to snuggle in front of the TV with to watch a movie.

As she waited for her food to cook, she picked up her phone and decided to make a phone call to Brooke since she had not spoken to her properly, since she had to end the call so abruptly the other day when Jason turned up.

She had text her a few times apologising for having to hang up and had to make up some little white lie that someone from another apartment needed her help with something and by the time she had finished helping them it was late so she just headed straight to bed.

She could not tell her about what happened with Jason because she knew just how Brooke would react and no doubt her best friend would end up telling her Dad someway.

It was just best if she didn't find out because it was a one off and would never end up happening again. Jason was long gone now to god knows where and Carly had her career to focus on.

Of course, Brooke being Brooke was suspicious at first but dropped it and told Carly to call her back another day, so she decided this would be the perfect time for a much needed catch up and gossip.

After three rings, the dialling tone ended and the voice of Brooke picked up the other end "Hello stranger."

"Hey Brooke." Cary smiled making herself comfortable on the couch. "I am still so sorry about the other day, it was completely my fault."

"It's fine." Brooke replied with a cheery tone. "I was just worried something had happened to you I nearly called your Dad."

"I was fine honestly." Carly laughed awkwardly and thought how worse the situation would have gotten if her Dad had turned up at her apartment when Jason was there, on her couch, in her bed, naked. It would not have ended well.

"I'm glad about that." Brooke answered. "So how is Carly Monroe since I don't get any life updates anymore from Papa Monroe?"

"Yeah about that…." Carly trailed off with a half joking and half annoyed tone.

"He told me he talked to you and said that he was only allowed to talk to me now if something was wrong. He sounded quite upset actually." Brooke laughed causing Carly to roll her eyes playfully.

"That is so weird." Carly chuckled. "It is not normal that my best friend and my father communicate daily."

"As I said before, how else am I supposed to keep up to date with your busy life?" Brooke proclaimed "You're basically always in the office with Detective Holbrook and then when you're not you're helping out neighbours."

"It's not that busy Brooke." Carly responded with a small sigh. "It's literally a routine. I had my first day off today and I have been all alone, I would much rather have you or Dad here with me. Anyway, how is the job hunting going? Any luck?"

"I had a few interviews but I haven't heard anything back. It's hopeless Carl's." She groaned.

"I could always keep an eye out for you if anything comes up in Rosewood?" Carly suggested.

She was actually hoping that Brooke would be accepting of the offer and would even consider moving to Rosewood so that they could be closer together. She honestly missed having a best friend and it didn't feel like to her that right now she had any friends, could she even count Holbrook as one since all he seemed to do was hit on her?

"Maybe but it's only because you want me to move to Rosewood." Brooke pointed out before letting out a giggle.

"You know me too well." Carly joined in the laughter just as the timer on the oven went off.

Getting up off the couch, Carly wondered over to get her food out of the oven and plate it up. She leant the phone against her ear and her shoulder as she got out a plate from one of the cabinets and started putting her food onto her plate to eat.

"There's actually been something I'm dying to ask you." Brooke stated as Carly grabbed a knife and fork out of the draw before wondering over to take a seat down on the couch.

"What's that?" Carly asked intrigued as to where this conversation was going.

"Well when your Dad told me that we weren't allowed to talk anymore, he mentioned something about detective Holbrook asking you out on a date?"

Of course he did Carly thought as she took a bite out of her food and shook her head slightly amused at this. "Yeah that's true."

"So did you take the handsome detective up on his offer?"

"I don't like where this conversation is headed…" Carly muttered as she thought back to how awkward the end of their date was.

"Just answer the question Carly." Brooke begged with a desperate tone.

Of course Brooke would end up literally having to plead the answer out of Carly since she didn't like talking about her dating/relationships due to her past. But this was exciting to Brooke because she wasn't there in Rosewood to see it happen and could only communicate through the phone or email.

"Seriously…"

"Seriously!" Brooke exclaimed.

There was no way she was going to be able to get out of this one and in no doubt letting Brooke know about how her date went would probably let her drop the topic for a while if she heard how Carly wasn't still that interested.

"Fine!" Carly breathed defeated by this. "Yes I went on a date with him."

"Oh my god," Brooke beamed from down the phone. "Tell me everything!"

"There isn't really much to say, apart from that it was nice and we had a good time." Carly answered her friend as she tucked into more of her food.

"That's really great to hear, Carl's." Brooke squealed happily. "So is there another date on the cards or?"

"Probably not for a while no," Carly explained to her "It was nice yeah but I don't see it heading anywhere. He's my boss after all and I already told him I don't want to mix work and relationships."

"So there was no kissing, no touching, no you know what, nothing at all?"

"No Brooke." She chuckled shaking her head as she finished the last mouth of food and laid her plate down on the coffee table.

"When I come to visit and if I end up seeing this Holbrook fella and he is beyond attractive, I will be seriously mad at you Carly for not getting on that."

"I'm not like that Brooke." Carly laughed more. Brooke was always way over dramatic over these situations and it was clearly amusing from Carly's point of view.

"We'll see about that Monroe." Brooke teased before joining in the laughter and it wasn't long before it suddenly stopped when the line went dead.

Confused, Carly pulled her phone away from her ear and saw that the call had randomly disconnected. Quickly she tried to call back but the line just went dead and wouldn't let her even though she had fall bars of signal, so figured out it must have been Brooke's phone messing up.

Frowning at what just happened, she laid the phone down on the coffee table beside her plate, before picking up the plate and going over to the sink to wash up.

Just as she had laid the plate and the cutlery on the sink to dry, the sound of her phone beeping telling her she had a message went off in the quiet apartment. Skipping back over to retrieve her phone, she assumed it would be Brooke apologising and telling her that she lost service.

However what she saw on the phone was not what she was expecting. Instead it only left her feeling uncomfortable and worried as to whom the hell had sent that message and who knew about her past enough to provoke her with it.

 **Blocked number:**

 **It was times like this when good girl Carly, use to sneak out and play bad girl –A**

Frowning at the text message she received, she read it over once again and found herself becoming increasingly confused as to why she had even received this text. It made sense with the whole good girl act, sneaking out and playing the bad girl, but she didn't understand why someone was bringing that up now.

"A… as in Alison?"

Spinning her head around, she jogged over to the window and pulled the curtain away so that she could look out across the street. Her heart was beating rapidly at this point at the thought of someone being out there trying to scare her away from this town.

However as the sun was setting in the neighbourhood, there was no one in sight and it only made her feel more uneasy about this like someone was hiding. She felt like someone was watching and waiting, like they were watching her to gain some sort of reaction out of her and see her crumble all over again just like when she used to live in Rosewood.

She had no idea why someone would want to do that to her since she had never had bad blood with anyone in this town. She tried so hard to figure out who the hell could have sent that message to her. It had to be someone who knew about her past enough to use it against her.

But the only people she could think of that knew about that past were out of town or those that she thought she could trust with that part of her life. However one name crossed through her mind more than once and the –A at the end of the text message only confirmed her suspicions.

It was pretty clear to Carly that from the night at the police station, that person had not been happy in the slightest to have seen Carly for the first time since that summer and especially in a place of authority where Carly could share their secrets if it meant it would have helped with the case.

She knew that they had never really liked her because of how involved she had got with Jason and how wherever Jason seemed to be then Carly would be. She was one of the few people that knew about her and Jason that year. She hated how rapt up Jason was with Carly and how he would pick her any day over his current girlfriend, Cece Drake.

All Carly could presume that –A meant Alison DiLaurentis, Jason's half-sister and the girl the case Carly was working on was all about.

This had to be some sort of threat to make Carly not get involved with Jason again and to pull herself out of the case she had been assigned to. It wouldn't be the first time that Alison had tried to get in the way of Carly and Jason.

 _ **~ Flash Back ~**_

 _Carly climbed the stairs of the DiLaurentis house that Friday evening what happened to be the weekend before Spring break officially began. The sound of loud music playing from one of the room's at the top of the hall way caused Carly to roll her eyes and a small smirk to twitch up the corners of her lips._

 _Once she had reached the top of the stairs, she made her way over to the room that the loud music was coming from and pushed down on the handle, not even bothering to knock because it wasn't like they would be able to hear her anyway._

 _She was met by the sight of a topless Jason sat at the end of his bed flicking through a pile of his old CD's and computer games. His back was facing away from her, so he had not even realised that she had entered his room and was making her way over to see him._

 _Carly felt herself exhaling softly when she saw the muscles arch on Jason's back as he leant over to pick something up off the ground and it was then that he noticed the tops of her converse on his wooden floor._

 _His eyes trailed up from the converse on her feet to her slightly tanned legs which were on display due to the shortness of the jean shorts she was wearing that only reached the top of her thigh, they went up to grey ribbed wrap front crop top she was wearing that showed off a small amount of stomach and up to her face._

 _Leaning back up, he turned his head in her direction and flashed a side smirk at her, which he knew would make her stomach flutter and it sure did._

 _"Hey I didn't hear you come in." Jason told her bending down to put the CD's he had in his into the pile he had made before getting up off the bed._

 _"I'm not surprised with how loud you have the music up." Carly commented back with a small smile trying to avert his eyes away from his chest area._

 _Jason shook his head copying the smirk that matched hers, before going over to turn down the stereo and grab a shirt to throw on the top half of his naked body._

 _She watched him as he pulled out a long sleeve grey fitted shirt from his draws and turned back round to face her, her cheek's flushing slightly when he noticed her staring at him and she had no choice but to look away._

 _Spinning around on her feet, she made her way over to his bed and took a seat down on one of the sides on the middle, pretending like she had not been looking at him. But Jason knew that of course, he couldn't help but feel pretty good about the way she was acting around him._

 _"I'm actually surprised to see you here after what happened with your Dad last week." Jason stated as he slipped the shirt over his head and turned to look at her._

 _"Yeah well I dealt with that and what he doesn't know won't hurt him." Carly replied._

 _"Sneaking out again, are we?" Jason asked even though he already knew the answer._

 _Carly would always end up finding a way to leave the house when her Dad was home, she would always make up some excuse like she was going round a friends to sleep and it always seemed to work._

 _Apart from last week when her Dad caught her leaving the house around 11:30pm on a school night to go hang out with Jason and his friends in the back of the woods near where Jason lived. It did not end well between the two and even meant her Dad was going to be keeping a closer eye on his daughter, as well as making the neighbours aware of the strict curfew her Dad had put in place._

 _Of course Carly was not going to be following this and had planned to be extra careful when going out during the day and sneaking out at night to make sure her neighbours did not suspect a thing._

 _Today and tonight was the first time she was going to be testing out this new theory, since she had not been to see Jason or any of his friends all week due to having school and tests all week that she had to revise for. But tonight was one of the latest parties that Jason and his friends were hosting so Carly had to there, there was no doubt about it and she wouldn't let some curfew her Dad set keep her away from spending the night with Jason._

 _Carly glanced up at him from her spot on the bed and smirked "Aren't I always?"_

 _"Yeah you're a little minx." Jason teased as he rolled up the sleeves on his shirt and made his way over to join her on the bed. "Not following Daddy's rules."_

 _"Shut up." Carly hushed him playfully as she lay back against the pillows on his bed with her arms crossed now and a pout forming on her lips._

 _"I think you need to relax Carl's." He suggested bending down over the edge of the bed and pulling out a crate of beer bottles from under it._

 _He snapped two from the crate, before pulling off the lid and handing one over to her. Sitting up slightly, she took the beer from him as he came to sit beside her and they both took a sip out of the beverage._

 _"Are you not with Cece today?" Carly asked trying to make conversation with him as she played with the bottle in her fingers._

 _"Nah she's gone to get a manicure or whatever they are called, but I'll probably see her tonight at the party" Jason answered her taking a glance at her from the side to see her smile altered slightly. "You ok Carl's?"_

 _"I'm fine." Carly mumbled before bringing the beer up to her lips and taking a much larger swig out of it this time._

 _Truth be told, she wasn't fine at all. She hated knowing that Jason was still with Cece after everything the couple had been through the past few months. They were up and down like a rollercoaster, it was so hard to keep up with whether they were still on with each other one day or had broken up another._

 _It angered Carly that Jason always went back to her, despite whatever argument they had gotten into that resulted in Cece shouting abuse at Jason and running off to another guy. She wished that Jason wouldn't take her back after every time when they never even acted like a real couple. They were only together when it suited one or the other, most of the time they did not even hang around together._

 _Carly could have probably been the blame for most of the arguments lately since Jason had been spending so much time with the teenager. To anyone around who did not know Jason was seeing someone else, they would have probably assumed he was with Carly by the amount of touching and the close bond the two shared._

 _Every time Cece and Jason broke up, Carly felt one step closer to falling head over heels for Jason. Letting herself fall for a guy was something that she had never done in her whole life and it had to be for the guy that already had a girlfriend, as well as who did drugs and got drunk most nights._

 _But with Jason it was like it was impossible not to. He did something to her that she couldn't even explain. She liked the rush, the excitement and the way he made her feel. Carly felt jealous that whenever Cece was around, she knew that she would not be spending as much time with Jason as she would like to have and would probably end up so drunk to block out how she was really feeling._

 _"You don't seem fine." Jason pointed out taking another sip of his own beer._

 _"Well I am fine." Carly spat at him harshly, before sitting back up and taking another gulp of beer._

 _She didn't mean to be so bitter but she was already dreading tonight now already._

 _"C'mon Carl's," He sat up to join her and nudged his elbow with her own. "You were fine when you got here and now you're sulking like a baby."_

 _"Oh jeez thanks Jason." Carly grumbled laying her bottle down onto one of his bed side tables and standing up from the bed, facing away from him as she did so._

 _"Well you are Carly," Jason exclaimed laying his beer down beside hers before swinging his legs off the bed. "I don't understand what's got you so grouchy."_

 _"Oh please Jason, are you really that stupid?"_

 _"Yeah well I must be." He scoffed back as he stood behind her._

 _Carly shook her head and laid her head in her hands, letting out a loud sigh as she did so. She couldn't quite believe that he didn't understand the position she was stuck in right now. But of course he wasn't to know when she had not been honest with him about her feelings._

 _Jason gently laid his hands down on Carly's waist, which caused her body to freeze instantly when she felt his touch. It wasn't long before she felt him move her round to face him properly and she dropped her head low in embarrassment from getting so angry but also because she knew if she looked at him, she would forget why she was so annoyed in the first place._

 _Carefully Jason leant down and grabbed her chin softly, before titling her head up to look at him. Their eyes met straightaway, Carly could already feel her heart beat speed up inside her chest as Jason removed his hand from her chin. She hated what he did to her._

 _"I'm sorry." He apologised with pleading eyes as a small sigh escaped her lips. "I'm yours for the night don't you worry about it."_

 _"You mean that?" Carly asked him titling her head slightly to the side._

 _"I mean that." Jason replied sincerely as he took hold of Carly's hand and linked their fingers together._

 _Carly gazed down at their hands together before looking back at up him through her eyelashes to be met with Jason smiling at her. She couldn't help but break out into a similar smile when she saw him looking at her like that and how good it felt to have that reassurance from him._

 _He always knew how to win her back._

 _Going back over to the bed, the two of them laid on top of it and stared up at the ceiling "You know when you're angry you do remind me of a baby."_

 _"Wow you're so charming today with all of these compliments." Carly said sarcastically as she grabbed one of his cushions from his floor and whacked him over the head with it._

 _Putting his arm in the air for defence, he used the other one to snatch the cushion out of her hand and he went to return the gesture when she saw started squealing._

 _"Don't you dare Jason!" Carly warned him as she folded her arms over her face to shield them from the cushion. She was never good at these types of games since she never had a sibling to play fight with._

 _"C'mon Carl's stop living up to the baby name I've given you." Jason mocked as he hit the pillow against her arm and she couldn't help but break out into laughter when she felt Jason's other hand come into contact with her waist where he began to tickle her._

 _"Jason seriously." Carly screamed loudly as more laughter erupted out of her mouth and Jason tried his hardest to stop himself from laughing at her behaviour, but it was no luck when he joined her._

 _Carly quickly shuffled her way away from him on the bed and picked up another cushion off the floor as Jason continued to hit her with it playfully. She edged closer to him with the cushion in her face to stop her from getting hit with it as Jason was not looking like he was giving up anytime soon._

 _Suddenly she felt her body come into contact with his and it wasn't long before she felt her body fall onto his. Pulling the cushion away from his face, she realised that she had actually landed on his chest area, with her legs tangling in with his and her face now inches away from his own._

 _The laughter from before was replaced with heavy breathing coming from both of them as they gazed into each other's eyes. Just like before, Carly felt her heart beat pick up and her stomach fluttered rapidly. She felt so nervous to be stuck in this situation and she had no idea how Jason felt._

 _Before she had the chance to speak or even move off of him, the sound of someone storming into Jason's room broke the two apart. Their heads turned to the figure that had now entered the room with a look of disapproval and disgust upon their face._

 _"Ali! What the hell are you doing in my room?" Jason questioned her slightly annoyed that she had just barged in without even knocking or asking for his permission._

 _"You left the door wide open Jason; I could hear you and her all the way from downstairs." Alison, Jason's young sister bit back at him._

 _Carly who felt so uneasy and awkward in this situation, slowly detached herself off of Jason and took a seat down on the edge of the bed trying her hardest to avoid all eye contact with Alison at all times._

 _"So? It does not give you the right to just walk into my room uninvited." Jason hissed back at her._

 _"It does when I can hear you messing around with Carly doing god knows what." Alison snapped back at him causing Carly to lower her head._

 _"We weren't doing anything Alison," He shot back at her before standing up from the bed and crossing his arms. "Now stay out of my room and my business."_

 _"Of course you weren't," Alison replied sarcastically and pointed her finger between the two of them "If I had not of walked in here just then god knows what could have happened between you two. Do I have to remind you Jason that you have a girlfriend?"_

 _"No Ali you don't." He sighed._

 _"Good because don't forget that she also happens to be my best friend and if she ever found out that something was going on between you two, we would make Carly's life hell."_

 _"I wouldn't let you do that Alison." Jason stepped in to defend Carly which caught Carly's attention instantly._

 _Without giving Alison a chance to add another threat or accusation at the pair, Jason grabbed hold of her elbow and walked her out of his room ignoring the protests what came from her._

 _Carly leapt up from the bed to check out what was going on but before she could, Jason came back through and slammed the door shut behind him. He had a look of anger on his face but once he saw how uneasy Carly look, he flashed a reassuring smile at her hoping that it would make her feel better._

 ** _~End of flash back~_**

That wasn't the only time Carly had to deal with Alison's accusations, threats and abuse throughout her involvement with Jason. It seemed like every moment that they were in each other's presents; Alison would say some comment about Carly to try aggravate her or to make her stay away from Jason.

The first few times it had made her feel apprehensive about going out to certain parties where she knew Alison would also be there with Cece or go round the DiLaurentis house knowing Alison would be keeping an eye out for suspicious behaviour.

But after them feeling's had passed, she started to think why the hell was she walking around on egg shells and making herself miserable because of some girl who was three years younger than her and thought she ruled the bloody town.

No way in hell was Carly letting Alison get to her again so instead of listening to her comments, Carly either ignored them or said something back that provoked the same way Alison had done to her before.

Although it didn't stop Alison from doing what she had been doing, it made Carly feel so good that she could stand up for herself and not let Alison ruin her happiness. If she wanted to be close with Jason she would and she wouldn't have let Alison get in the way of that.

And she most certainly now would not let Alison get in the way of her working on the case and training to be the detective she always wanted to be.

She hoped and prayed that whatever that the text was would be a one off. She would definitely make sure that of that because she wasn't letting this 'A' or Alison try to change things for her this time round.

* * *

 **Author note: Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this part. A flashback to what Carly and Jason's relationship used to be like in the past. I hope this is enough to keep you guys reading until Jason comes back into this properly. Please do as I have so much planned.**

 **Special thanks to those who have favourited, followed or reviewed since the last part, I appreciate it so much! Thank you Rhatch89, ColdHeartAngel, Cstephens91 and track89.**

 **Let me know what you thought in a review if you like, I love to hear what you guys think and it honestly makes me so happy to read your reviews.**

 **Thanks again,**

 **xx**


	12. Stupid Little Messages

**Stupid Little Messages:**

After a lot of tossing and turning throughout the night, Carly only managed to get around five hours sleep that night before she was up and getting ready for her day back at work.

The reason for her lack of sleep last night was not only caused by the slight worry she felt from the text she received but it was more the anger and confusion she felt as to why Alison would want to cause drama between them two again.

She was going over and over in head about the idea that maybe the day at the Brew when they first spoke again, Alison had seen them and got the wrong impression, or perhaps worse had occurred, how about if Alison had followed Jason over to her apartment the night that she and Jason had sex.

She was beginning to get worked up over the idea of Alison knowing that Jason and she had been in contact since her return to Rosewood in which she could use as an advantage over Carly to get her revenge on her after she got close with Jason.

If Alison knew this information and all of the secrets from her past, then she could use it to threaten and blackmail Carly into leaving Rosewood for good. Also she could go to Carly's father and tell him about how Carly has already been in more than verbal contact with Jason.

Carly knew that she had to be extra careful from now on to not make Alison or whoever this A person happened to be send another text like that. She couldn't bear to imagine what it would be like if the Rosewood police force found out about her past, she knew for sure that they probably would not want her on the force and would kick her off immediately. Plus she already knew what her Dad would do if he found out about Jason.

That's why she knew she had to take a stand against Alison who she presumed was A. Who else did she know who had the first name beginning with A and knew all about her past?

No one except from Alison and Carly bet Alison couldn't wait to steer up trouble again for her. But Carly wouldn't let that happen this time. She was ready to put Alison in her place and not let some teenager ruin the career she had always wanted over something what happened years ago.

* * *

Carly left her apartment around 12pm that day and made her way to work which she knew was going to be eventful due to the recent events that had happened between her and Holbrook but also regarding different cases within the town that the police were investigating.

She had managed to keep up to date with everything from reports that were being sent to her from Tanner's assistant which meant it was a lot easier for Carly to keep up and not fall behind, where she would end up lost and unsure of where the hell the investigations were actually going.

Also she had not even spoken to Holbrook since their 'little date' the other night, especially not after when he tried to kiss her and instead ended up kissing her cheek. The awkwardness in the air what followed soon after was enough for Carly to want to get out of there as soon as possible.

She had no idea how he was going to act round her after that night but she hoped it wouldn't be too awkward because she already had a lot of her mind from the blocked message she received last night. She was hoping that she would not get anymore but knew if she did then she would be making a phone call to the DiLaurentis house or she would speak to Alison herself.

Pulling up outside the station, she parked in one of the free spaces and hopped out of her with her bag hooked on her arm. However uneasy she felt like someone was keeping an eye on her, she pushed her feelings aside for the time being and made her way up the steps towards the station entrance.

Upon entering the station, the sound cops chattering, phones ringing and typing coming from the computers in the main foyer altered her attention. A small smile graced her lips as she realised that even though she had only had one day off, she had already missed this place and was happy that she was back so she could progress further with her career.

Slowly she wondered over to her office door where she could already see the light was on and Holbrook was sat at his desk. She felt a feeling of nerves hit the bottom of her stomach as she pulled down the handle and stepped inside the office before closing the door behind her.

Unlike his usual greeting to her which consisted of a charming smile and a 'hello Miss Monroe', Carly was met a large amount of silence coming from him and not once did he acknowledge her as she walked over to her side of the desk.

Frowning at his unusual behaviour, she slipped her bag off her arm and down onto the ground, before pulling off her light weight black belted waterfall trench jacket, leaving her in nothing but a white wrap front turn up sleeve blouse and black tailored slim cigarette pants.

Once she had got out of her notepad and pen from her bag, she took a seat down at her desk and turned on her laptop. She peered over the list of things that had been left for her to do on the sticky note on top of a pile of files. Not even then did Holbrook mutter a word to her.

Looking over at him from the other side of the desk, she noticed how he was busy clicking around on the screen of his laptop and not paying any attention to her in the slightest.

Usually he would have turned to look at her or already be looking at her from across his usual spot, but today something just didn't seem right, he was acting too weird for her liking and Carly couldn't help but feel like she was to blame. Did she do something wrong and not even realise it?

Was he mad at her for not messaging him after the date or the next day?

"Uh… Gabe…." Carly broke the silence between the pair which actually managed to catch his attention for the first time since her arrival. Once she had noticed he was now looking at her she spoke again "Hi…"

"Hi." He said back quietly before going back to his computer screen.

This caused Carly to exhale soundlessly and frown over at the guy she was working alongside for her time on the cases she had been assigned to. She started to believe that she was right all along about mixing work and relationships. If he was acting weird with her after one date, then what the hell would it have been like if they had ended up kissing or something more.

She couldn't deal with this right now, especially at work when she was constantly being observed on her progress and she still had to deal with the –A text she received.

Pulling the sticky note off of the file, she laid it down on the desk and picked up the files in her arms before making her way over to one of the filing cabinets to file them away.

Even with her back turned to Holbrook, she could still feel the thick tension in the room and it was making her feel so uncomfortable that she just wanted to scream. Carly was definitely one of those people that sometimes struggled to bite her tongue and had to say what she was thinking otherwise things would get to her. Holbrook was sure about to find that out.

Spinning around harshly on her feet, she turned to face Holbrook again with a confused expression "Have I done something wrong?" she asked him straight to the point as he finally looked over at her with raised brows. "Because I feel like ever since I walked in here today you've been acting weird and ignoring me."

"I'm not ignoring you, Miss Monroe." Holbrook answered leaning back from his screen.

"Ok well you're most definitely acting weird then," Carly informed him. "So what is it? What have I done wrong?"

"You've done nothing at all Miss Monroe." He replied simply.

Carly sighed loudly as she turned back round to place the file in the cabinet "Then what's going on with you? You're normally so cheerful and happy to see me."

"Are you saying that you're disappointed that I didn't throw some flirtatious comment in your face?" Holbrook teased causing Carly to roll her eyes playfully and bite on her bottom lip.

"No," She scoffed jokingly as she titled her head to look at him. "I just thought I had done something wrong after our date."

"No Miss Monroe," Holbrook disagreed as he stood up and wondered over to her. "Everything is fine."

"Then why were you acting weird with me?" She asked him as she closed up the filing cabinet to look at him and folded her arms over chest.

"I just don't know how to act around you anymore." He explained in a soft tone and stared into her eyes. "I didn't know how you felt as you probably guessed when I leant in to kiss you."

"Uh…" Carly murmured as she felt the heat rise to her cheeks at the reminder of how awkward that situation was.

"But I think I understand now, so I have decided to distance myself a little until you've made up your mind about what you want."

Carly titled her head to the side with a confused expression on her face as she watched him walk away from her and take his jacket off the back of his chair to put on.

"So you're going to just make me try to miss you or something?"

"Something like that." Holbrook smirked over at her which caused her to laugh slightly at how awkward this was for her.

In all honesty, she did not know how she felt about Holbrook and she had not even had the time to think about if there was a connection there or not. Of course he was a great guy, so charismatic, funny, caring, and intelligent, as well as the both of them sharing the same interest which was a bonus.

But he was her boss basically and her partner on the cases, he still had no idea about her past and she did quite know if she would ever be able to explain to him about that. Definitely not when he is her boss and basically can decide whether or not she stays or they dismiss her from the force.

Right now all Carly wanted was to finally get over her past including Jason and to show to Tanner how much this position meant to her, that she was going to become fully qualified and become the detective that she wanted to be.

"I'll see you later, Miss Monroe." Holbrook told her breaking her out of her thoughts as he was now stood with the door open and like he was about to head out.

Giving him a fake smile, she nodded back at him "See you later."

Once he had left the office and closed the door behind himself, she ran her fingers through her hair and let out a small groan. She was no way expecting Holbrook to be acting like this with her. All she felt was awkwardness around him and all she could think about was how much she wished that they could just be normal together.

Why did he have to be interested in her? She was nothing special whatsoever.

Suddenly a loud knock at the office door caused her to jump slightly and turned her back round to the door. She gulped when she saw detective Tanner stood behind it with a questionable look on her face and was indicating for Carly to allow her to come in.

Forcing a smile on her lips, she nodded her head at her and motioned with her hand for her to come inside. As Tanner entered the office, Carly made her way over to meet with her in the middle of the room in which she did.

"Good afternoon Carly," Tanner greeted her sincerely "There's not much work for you to do at the office today so I thought that maybe you could join me on a few assignments outside of the station."

"Yeah sure, I'd love to." Carly responded back happily.

She felt slightly better knowing that she was going to be able to get out of the office and away from the awkwardness with Holbrook. Also it would give her a chance to check out more of the investigation side of things instead of doing numerous admin tasks that weren't so beneficial to the detective path she wanted to go down.

"Brilliant. Grab your coat and I'll meet you outside." Tanner advised her before leaving Carly alone in the office and heading outside.

Carly breathed a sigh of relief once Tanner was out of sight; she felt the feelings of anticipation and excitement bounce through her at the thought of getting stuck in with some investigation work. It was probably the most interesting part of the job for her.

Grabbing her coat and bag, she made her way out of the office and went outside to join Tanner who was stood waiting by one of the cars. Another cop was with her and Carly presumed that they would be also coming out on this assignment.

Without even saying a word, Tanner opened up the back door of one of the unmarked cop cars and climbed in, whilst the cop climbed in the driver's side and Carly took the spot next to Tanner in the back.

The trip to wherever they were going was silent and the only noise was coming from the cop's radio on his uniform about any updates that were going on around the station. Apart from that, it was quiet and Carly felt apprehensive about where they were headed, what investigations they were going to do and what it would involve for her as a trainee. She honestly could not wait to get stuck into the whole investigating side of things. It was definitely her favourite part so far despite the anxiety she felt from time to time.

Around twenty five minutes later, the car pulled up outside the Radley Sanatorium which is a metal institution located in a small county near Rosewood in Pennsylvania. Carly had never visited this place before because she never had the need to such as never having anyone in family with mental health issues or even herself did not have severe issues, even though she suffered with panic attacks from time to time it was nothing ever serious to have to send her to a home.

In all honesty, the place gave her the creeps from all of the stories she had her about the place and how it seemed to have links to most of the latest crimes that had occurred over the past few years in Rosewood. Some of the suspects in the Alison DiLaurentis case had even been be admitted here and just recently in the events of the case, the body who was revealed to be in Alison's grave happened to be a former patient named Bethany Young.

This made Carly piece the pieces together and realised that Tanner was checking out Radley to see if she could find some answers as to why the hell Bethany was found in Alison's grave. The Alison DiLaurentis case just seemed to be getting more and more like a mystery. Everyday something new occurred in the case which left a million questions for the cops to try and answer.

The three of them hopped out of the car and Tanner lead the way up the metal gates that surrounded the institution. Carefully she opened up the gates and made her way through but hung back to hold open the gate for Carly and the cop to also go through.

Once they had all entered through the gates, Tanner continued leading the way up the few steps which came to the double door entrance. Pushing it open, Tanner wondered through with the cop and Carly following behind her.

Carly felt uneasy at first, as she came through into the main foyer of the institution and waited behind a large desk area whilst Tanner spoke to one of the receptionists about wanting to speak to one of the staff members.

The receptionist came round from the side of her desk area a few moments later to guide them through the building and towards the office of the person that Tanner was after. The office was only across the hall from where they were standing so they could easily locate it and it meant they didn't have to go past any of the patients to get to where they wanted to go.

Before Tanner entered the room where a guy in tailored suit and glasses was sat at his desk waiting for her arrival, Tanner stopped Carly and pulled her over to the side for a quick briefing.

"This is just a meeting I've organised with one of the staff members who knew of Bethany Young very well during her stay at Radley. I'm just going to ask him a few questions so I can build a bigger picture as to why she might have possibly been in Miss DiLaurentis' grave," Tanner explained to Carly as the other cop waited inside the room "Feel free to make some notes on the questions I ask, the answers he responds with and any suspicious behaviour that you can get from him."

"Okay sure." Carly nodded as Tanner brushed past into the room, which left Carly nothing else to do than follow, as well as pull out her note pad and pen to make some notes like Tanner had instructed her to do so.

No doubt by the end of the day Tanner would want her to type up a report on everything she could work out from the investigations they had took from the day and have it with her by the next day so that they can begin to piece together some of the events.

Carly loved being able to get involved with as much of the investigation work she could. She understood that she would not be able to ask the questions or be the one to lead just yet since she was not fully qualified yet and had a lack of experience.

But every time she went with Tanner or Holbrook on one of the assignments out of the station, she had learnt a lot already and it made her want the job even more than she already had.

* * *

Around fifteen minutes later, the three members from the Rosewood police force came out of the office with the staff member from Radley. From the look on Tanner's face you could tell that the investigation had not gone too well. Tanner was furious with the member that he had not been able to provide her with any useful information and was acting very strange about the Bethany topic throughout the whole interview.

Carly had noted this down a lot and had even begun to wonder herself as to why everything seemed to lead back to this place. She could not put her finger on how Bethany could have been found in Alison's grave. It did not seem to make sense why some girl who had escaped Radley was put into the grave of a missing teenager from Rosewood.

Quickly Carly stuffed her notepad into her bag as she joined Tanner, the other cop and the staff member back in the foyer.

Tanner turned her attention towards the staff member with a disapproving look on her face "This is absolutely ridiculous I am so disappointed with your lack of co-operation."

Carly lowered her head slightly as she felt like things were getting a bit too awkward between Tanner and the staff member. Just as she brought her head down, a person on the other side of the room caught her eye and made her bring her head back up to look at them with a confused expression.

"But when you change your mind, there's my number, think and give me a call" Tanner told the man handing him a small piece of card with her number and other contact details on.

Once Carly's eyes met with the person's from across the room, Spencer who happened to be that person, quickly grabbed a magazine off one of the piles at the seating area and shoved it in front of her face, so that Carly and the other detectives could not see her sat there. It would have looked way too suspicious for Spencer to been spotted there.

It was too bad that Carly had already noticed her and wanted to go over there to talk to her about the text message she had received last night, she knew that Spencer would be able to notify Alison of what Carly thought about her snide text.

"C'mon let's go," Tanner instructed breaking Carly's gaze on Spencer and instead she aimlessly followed behind. "On second thought..."

Carly came to a halt when Tanner turned round to face her "I'm going to take a quick lunch break after that encounter, feel free to also take a break and I'll meet you back at the car in under fifteen minutes."

"Uh yeah sure." Carly forced a smile on her lips as Tanner returned the gesture and exited the institution with the cop in tow.

Once Tanner was out of sight, Carly marched over to where Spencer was with a look of determination on her face. She couldn't let the idea go of putting Alison in her place and she knew that she and Spencer were friends, so this would be the next best way to get the message to her without actually having to see Alison.

"Spencer I know it's you behind there." Carly said whilst rolling her eyes and she watched on as Spencer slowly withdrew the magazine from her face.

"Uh hi Carly." Spencer replied back with an embarrassed tone knowing her hiding had not been so good. "I didn't see you there."

It was probably unprofessional of her to not ask what the was doing there since it was weird for Spencer to be here after school but Carly had one thing on her mind right now.

"Drop the act Spence," Carly rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. "You're still friends with Alison right?"

"Uh yeah I am why?" she asked puzzled as to where this was going.

"Well feel free to pass on this message to her." Spencer raised her eyebrows up and urged her to go on. "Tell her to not even bother to send me anymore messages that are going to try to provoke me because it won't work. She might have got involved with my business last time but this time round she is not ruining my life."

"W-w-what do you mean by all of this?"

"I'm sure she'll pretend like she has no idea what you're on about but trust me, Alison will understand when you tell her to stay out of my businesses. I'm deadly serious this time."

"O-ok I'll tell her…" Spencer replied unsure of what the hell was going on. "But what has Alison said exactly?"

"Bringing up my past like she knows it's going to cause some reaction from me," Carly told her whilst letting out a large sigh. "You would think that a girl who has been through the crap she has, she would learn to back off and not send stupid little messages signed A from a blocked number…"

"W-w-wait what?" Spencer interrupted before Carly could finish. "Did you just say from A?"

"Yes… A as in Alison," Carly told her with an annoyed tone. "I would have thought she would have grown up by now and just signed them with her own name instead of playing silly little games."

Whilst Carly was rambling on, she had not even noticed that Spencer was literally going out of her mind trying to work out why the hell Carly had received a text like that. She had not even been paying attention to what Carly was saying in the past few seconds.

"Earth to Spencer." Carly waved her hand in front of Spencer's face to grab her attention.

"Oh what sorry?" Spencer apologised trying to act as normal as she could but she couldn't help but let her mind wonder.

"It doesn't matter," Carly laughed and adjusted her bag strap on her arm "I should probably get going now. Just please tell Alison what I said."

"Uh yeah sure…" Spencer replied although she was unconvinced that 'A' was who Carly thought she was.

"Thank you," Carly smiled as she turned around slowly "Bye Spencer."

Spencer continued to watch Carly as she made her way out of the foyer and exhaled once she had gone. She couldn't even begin to explain why A had targeted Carly and she knew that she would have to look into further as to why they would.

Someone she definitely would have to ask was going to have to be a little closer to home and she hoped that she would find the right answers. But that was the least of her concerns right now when Spencer spotted one of the doors on the right hand side open to reveal the person she had been hoping to bump into and the whole reason she had even turned up at Radley that afternoon.

* * *

 **Author note: I thought since it was official PLL day and the big A reveal that I would upload the next part. I amso excited to find out who A is since I've been watching the show for years now and the day has finally come. Although unlike the lucky people in the United States who get to find out tonight because I'm from the UK I will have to wait till tomorrow morning to find out who A is and avoid spoilers on social media at all costs.**

 **Anyway, I hope you liked this part and you are enjoying the story so far. Thank you to Pookie Luffs Sushi, Ashleyziur, RHatch89, LiLuLo12, PeterPanIsMyBoo and Stilinski-McCallBros for reviewing, following or favouriting the story since the last part. I appreciate it.**

 **Jason will be returning back to the story very soon I can assure you, so please don't stop reading because he is not in it. As I said before, it's a slow burn but once he does return things pick up quite quickly due to certain reasons, hopefully you'll understand when we get to those parts.**

 **Let me know your thoughts on this part. I love to hear what you think and where you think this is headed.**

 **Thanks again,**

 **Enjoy PLL tonight!**

 **xx**


	13. Lost Trust

**Lost Trust:**

After her encounter with Spencer at Radley, Carly headed to one of the local coffee shops to grab a quick drink and a snack, before she met Tanner and the other cop back at the car to progress onto their next destination on their investigations for the afternoon.

Carly felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders now she had talked to Spencer and got her to tell Alison exactly what she had thought all about her little text. At least now she did not have to worry about getting anymore messages from Alison trying to steer up trouble when Carly was only now getting settled back here and was feeling much more relaxed about being back in town after all these years.

Even if Alison wasn't going to comply with the message Carly had given her, she would have to take it to the next step and directly go speak to her herself to get her to stop. She wasn't letting Alison ruin her career and her life by bringing up the past. The past had to stay in the past for now and it was best if it did stay that way.

Carly had even been thinking why Spencer had been at Radley that afternoon. She was pretty confused to say the least, she knew that she had checked in their last year from the notes she had read from Alison's case study that had all the information about the friends of Alison, the police had been able to get their hands on to build a stronger case.

She knew due to her connections to Spencer from being Melissa's friend and knowing the girl when she last in Rosewood, that she did not want to mention to Tanner about why Spencer had been there because she did not want Tanner to start pointing the finger at Spencer, when Carly believed that was Spencer was completely innocent all of this.

Instead, she decided that she wasn't going to say anything and just ask Spencer at a later date if it was really that relevant. For all Carly could have known, Spencer could have been there visiting an old friend she made at Radley or she could have been finding out her own information about why Bethany Young had been found in Alison's grave.

It was no secret to the Rosewood Police Department that the girl's had been investigating everything to do with what happened to Alison over the years due to what Carly had read in the reports since being assigned to the case. It was obvious that wherever a crime happened to take place involving the case, the four teenagers would be right there within the middle of it.

To most of the police team, including Tanner and Holbrook they were suspicious of them and had even crossed their minds more than once that they had something to do with some of the deaths within this town.

But to Carly she just saw them as four innocent teenagers who just got involved with the wrong people and happened to be amongst the drama that surrounded Alison. She believed that any harm they had caused over the years was unintentional. They were just teenagers and not long ago Carly had been one of them herself. They make mistakes, it's all about growing up and Carly hoped that Tanner would stop accusing them.

* * *

Once the fifteen minutes had been up, Carly joined Tanner again in the car and they were off on their next investigation. Tanner got Carly to verbally report back what information she had jotted down her note pad on the way and by the end of it Carly was unsure what Tanner thought about it since she did not give her any feedback.

It was strange to say the least when going out on assignments with Tanner because Carly was so worried about messing up by saying the wrong thing or doing something she shouldn't since Tanner was her boss. She could decide whether or not Carly continued in this line of work and that scared her greatly.

Their next stop was at the memorial place that Bethany's body was found in Alison's grave. Tanner was busy questioning the guy who owned the place whilst Carly continued to write notes like she had back at Radley.

This was the same for most of the stops that they visited that afternoon during their time out of the office. They had been visiting places, talking to different people, investigating and trying to build on the cases they already had.

Carly had been writing as much information as she can to build her own reports that she would share with Tanner tomorrow once she had written it up and came to her on conclusions about certain things. It had been really interesting for her so far and she had loved every second of it. It also felt that she did not have to worry about Alison whilst she was out and had not received any blocked messages from the teenager.

Their last stop of the day happened to be an apartment block similar to Carly's just outside the main centre of the town in Rosewood. Carly had been instructed by Tanner that she did not need to report on any of the next interview because it would not be that relevant to the case she had been working on with Holbrook.

Instead she had been advised to just sit back and listen, take it all in and use the observation she was making as a guide of when she would do some questioning later on in her progress with the force.

They piled out of the car later on in the evening around 7pm and left the cop inside the vehicle; whilst they climbed the stairs up the apartment Tanner was headed to Carly spoke up "So what's this assignment all about?"

"Shana Fring," Tanner told her as they came down the hall way of one of the floors of the apartment. "It just so happens to be that the night Ezra Fitz got shot in New York; Shana Fring also got killed at the Fitzgerald theatre the next day."

"No way that's the same one Holbrook and I researched on when we heard about Ezra getting shot." Carly replied back completely baffled. That somehow was not coincident.

"Exactly Miss Monroe," Tanner agreed with her knowing what she was implying. "Gun residue was found on Shana's sweatshirt that could be linked to Ezra's shooting."

The two approached the door of the apartment and Tanner was the one to knock on the door as Carly noticed a large envelope left on the door mat of Ezra's apartment.

Bending down she picked it up and handed it over to Tanner, who took it from Carly's grasp and turned it over to see it was addressed to Ezra. After a few seconds, the door flung open to reveal Ezra Fitz who looked surprised to see Tanner stood there.

"Good evening Mr Fitz. I'm Lieutenant Tanner state police and this is my partner Miss Monroe," Tanner introduced herself and Carly to Ezra. "Mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Sure." Ezra replied back calmly as he rolled his eyes over to Carly and she gave him a small smile.

"Oh…" Tanner glanced down at the envelope, before looking back up at Ezra again and pushing the envelope more towards him "This was outside your door."

"Great thank you," Ezra took the envelope from her and glanced down at it as he was unsure of what it could be, as a nervous look registered on his face and was present in his tone "Thank you so much."

"Mind if we come in?" Tanner asked puzzled by his sudden change in behaviour.

A few moments of silence dropped on the three of them until Ezra spoke up again, his tone still like he was on the edge about something and it only made the two cops stood in front of him more suspicious of his actions.

"Sure of course," Ezra answered with a hint of uncertainty as he pulled back the door and allowed the two ladies through into his place. "Come in."

Tanner awkwardly coughed as she entered the apartment and Carly followed behind her, already feeling sceptical about this. Something just did not seem right about Ezra right now and she was definitely going to make sure she had her full attention on him throughout this interview.

Carly closed the door behind them as Tanner came to a halt in the centre of the living area of Ezra's apartment. She stared down at all of the boxes around the floor space and on different surfaces around them.

"Moving out?" Tanner asked realising that this was probably the most obvious reason for the mess.

"Oh no just getting rid of some old school files." Ezra replied back gazing down at one of the boxes and up again at the two as Carly came to stand next to Tanner. "So what can I help you two ladies with?"

"Just some questions about Shana Fring." Tanner explained to him as she took a seat down on one of Ezra's chairs leaving Carly to stand up awkwardly on the spot. At least this way she had a great view to monitor Ezra's behaviour.

"Oh I thought the New York detectives were handling that case." Ezra said surprised.

"They are," She told him with a sweet smile "But since Shana was a Rosewood resident, we're just helping them gather further information."

"Ah I see." Ezra nodded as he glanced around the floor and over to the bathroom in particular. "I see."

Carly rolled her eyes over to where he was looking and frowned when she saw that the light was on but the door was wide open signalling that no one happened to be inside. But just as she turned her head back round to focus on the conversation, she noticed a woman's hand bag and jacket on the table in the kitchen area making her suspicions grow further.

Whoever Ezra was looking for over on the other side of the room happened to be female and had been inside his apartment before Tanner and Carly had originally turned up tonight. By the looks of things now, they were hiding away and did not want to be seen by the authority at Ezra's apartment.

This made Carly wonder who the hell it could have been since she had not done much reading up on Ezra from the case files. She had been more focused on Alison and finding out information that could solve her whole kidnapping story. But she knew that there was some link somewhere, she knew that there was someone who had romantic links with Ezra but she just couldn't put her finger on it right now.

"Did you know Shana well?" Tanner asked causing Carly to avert her attention back.

"Uh no, she was never actually a student of mine."

Tanner hummed before speaking again "So you never mentioned to her that your mother owned a theatre in New York?"

"No I never mentioned that to any of my students."

Tanner let out a large exhale and glanced over at Carly "Wow so it was just a huge coincidence that her body was found there." Tanner said sarcastically as she looked back at Ezra causing Carly to rub her lips together nervously knowing this was getting deeper.

"I-it came as quite a shock to me and my family." Ezra stuttered out and Carly could tell that something wasn't quite right here.

"You were shot the night before Shona was killed." Carly spoke up and instantly regretted when she saw the surprised look on Tanner's face.

She did not know if the look of surprise was good or bad for Carly.

She knew she should not have gotten involved but she just could not help it. She needed to say something and work with what she had already observed from Ezra. If she wanted to prove to Tanner that she was 100% serious about this job and that it was perfect for her, then she was going to take the risk and interject her say in the matter.

"That's right." Ezra clarified Carly's words as he looked at her.

"It's been noted that gun residue was found on Shona's clothing." Carly told Ezra as Tanner observed Carly from a side knowing what she was trying to imply but all Ezra could do was look lost, unsure and nervous as to where this conversation was going.

"Sorry what was the question?" Ezra asked with raised brows looking between the two females.

"Oh... um… do you remember anything about your mother, something that would help the investigation?" Tanner took over as Carly let out a small breath that she had been holding in since she spoke up.

Ezra was quick to answer this time "Nothing that I haven't already said."

"Well that's all for now," Tanner informed him as she got up from her seat and Carly turned her head back again towards the bathroom, still unsure of whether she should check it out for herself or just leave it. The detective inside of her was getting the better of her tonight. "Thank you for your time."

"Um sorry I don't mean to be rude but please can I use your restroom?" Carly quickly interrupted with a nervous tone in her voice and crossed her legs to imply she was 'desperate' to go.

Tanner was the first one to look at her with raised eyebrows but Carly gave her a sheepish smile knowing she was so in trouble for what she had pulled tonight, she hoped that Tanner would not be so mad at her when she found out the real reason she interjected and had been acting unprofessional.

"Uh yeah… sure of course…" Ezra mumbled.

"Thanks." Carly quickly spun on her heel and made her way over to the bathroom door in the corner of the living space.

As she stepped into the bathroom space, her body jumped slight in shock at who she saw hung around the corner with a worried look on her face and that is when it hit her when she realised who Ezra had been romantically linked to over the past few years, a high school student and her teacher. It was Aria.

Turning her head round to see Tanner and Ezra still talking about if he could be any more help than to let him know, Carly pulled the door slowly closed and stood opposite the young girl unsure of what to do.

"Aria," Carly whispered shaking her head in surprise. "What are you doing in here?"

"What are you doing here?" Aria asked quietly trying to hide the fear she felt. Of course she knew the real reason as to why Carly had been with Tanner but a part of her did not want to believe that she was on their side.

"I'm with Tanner investigating." Carly answered in a hushed tone. "What are you doing here?"

"Hiding because if Tanner sees me out there with Ezra, it's going to look like something's going on between us."

"And is there?" She pushed for an answer in which Aria shook her head and folded her arms.

"Please don't mention anything to Tanner. I'm serious when I say there is nothing going on between us, but she does not have to know I was here."

Carly exhaled loudly and rubbed her fingers over her face in distress. She couldn't believe she had to be so stupid and nosey to what to find out who was hiding out in Ezra's apartment. Why couldn't she just have left the idea alone and she then wouldn't have to be in this mess of keeping things from Tanner whilst defending Aria.

She knew what she had to do it, of course it was going to be wrong to hold back information from her boss since she had already done that today with Spencer but Aria was like her little sister. She had been there for her throughout most of her pre-teen years and she could not bear the thought of being responsible for getting the girl into trouble.

"Fine ok I won't say anything." Carly assured her as she motioned Aria to press the flusher and run some water so it looked like Carly had used the toilet during her visit.

Once a few seconds had past and the water had stopped running, Carly wondered over to the bathroom door ready to pull it open and leave this mess she had got herself involved with.

"Just be careful Aria."

Aria gave Carly a small smile and a nod in gratitude, before Carly yanked open the bathroom door and joined Tanner at Ezra's front door of the apartment with the fakest smile on her face that she could mustered so it did not look like Carly had been up to something she should not have.

"Thank you again for your time Mr Fitz." Tanner said as she pulled open the door and wondered out of the apartment, Carly following loosely behind her as her eyes trailed one last time on the bathroom door where she had been speaking to Aria before.

"Of course Lieutenant," Ezra smiled back at her and looked down at Carly who was looking at him strangely.

She still couldn't believe it was Aria all along who had been linked to her high school tutor. She wished that she had read more on the girl's because it seemed like ever since she had been a way everyone she knew she had seriously grown up and so much had happened. It was like she living in a completely different town to what she had remembered. It was filled with so many secrets and lies.

It hit her just how much she wasn't the same girl anymore and she did not know the girl's in this town like she used to. No one looked at her in the same way. Aria for definitely acted like she did not even trust Carly when Carly had been the one Aria had looked up to and thought of as the big sister she never had throughout growing up.

But now with Carly's new authority position in the Rosewood PD, she only realised that no one would be able to act the same around her again. No one would trust her with their secrets or problems, because she would be able to report any suspicious information to the police and this meant that the girl's she once knew well, would become the girls who were now strangers to her.

But why was she so surprised, they had grown up and so had she, they had been through so much since she had been away and it was only a matter of time until they started trusting her less when it came to their lives because of her position.

Part of her was unsure she would even like the idea of that and she knew that it was something else that was going to be tough to let go of.

* * *

 **Author note: Thank you for reading and taking an interest in my story. I really hope you're liking it so far and enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Apologise again for the lack of Jason but I really want to deep further into Carly's character and her past so that's why I have given a sort of slow burn twist to the story because I don't want to rush into anything with Jason straight away. I want to try and make it as realistic as possible therefore I'm not going to just jump straight into a relationship for them because these things take time. But he will be in it very very very soon.**

 **And if you want to see him in it sooner, then the more reviews and that, the quicker I will update. It's as simple as that.**

 **Thank you to everyone who has read this story so far. Special thanks to all of those who have either favourited, followed or reviewed since the last part; Rhatch89, TeamBedward, CarstaK, crowenfan, dianaoctopus, esmecruz2095567, girlofdreams1995 and PANDAFIIED.**

 **Oh and what did you guys think of the season finale? I didn't get the shock factor that I was expecting. I mean I guess it was a good idea, despite the plot holes and I guess that it would work well for this story but I just wasn't as shocked as I hoped I would have been and was kind of a little disappointed? Idk. Let me know your thoughts.**

 **Also let me know your thoughts about this part of the story in a review. I love hearing what you guys think!**

 **Many thanks**

 **xx**


	14. Meet Again

**Meet Again:**

Carly exhaled loudly, as she closed the door of her car and ran her fingers through her hair exhausted and a little stressed about what had happened today, as well as the text she got from Alison last night that had kept her up and meant she had a rubbish nights sleep.

She had her first proper experience of investigating and interviewing people alongside Tanner. The first part of the day had gone smoothly until she decided to open her big mouth back at Ezra's apartment and then it just seemed to go downhill from there.

Fortunately for her, Tanner was not all that annoyed at her for interrupting the conversation she was having with Ezra. She believed it was unprofessional and was going against what her superior had advised but Tanner was impressed by how she had handled the situation and what she actually added to the interview.

This made Carly a hell of a lot better about what had happened at the apartment, but she knew that Tanner was going to be watching her every move now to make sure she did not step out of line again. She also doubted she would be going out on anymore investigations with Tanner anytime soon until she learnt to keep her mouth shut.

But that was only half of the reason why she felt so exhausted and stressed. She still could not get over seeing Aria hiding out in the apartment that evening. It slightly upset her knowing that whilst she had been at law school, the girl she considered a little sister a long time ago was hooking up with her teacher and going through so much all alone.

To make matters worse, Carly had not even mentioned to Tanner that Aria was actually there that night. It could have changed everything if Carly let Tanner in on the teenagers where abouts. But she could not do that to Aria and just this once she would risk everything to protect the young girl.

Suddenly the sound of someone tapping on her car window door, made her mind jump out of her thoughts and her body physically jump in her seat. Bringing her head up from her slouched over position, she looked out of her window and saw Holbrook stood outside of it looking smug.

Rolling her eyes in annoyance, she leant over and pressed down on the button to unwind the window, in which it did and Holbrook stepped closer to the car in the process.

"Everything ok Miss Monroe?" Holbrook asked as he leant against the top of his car with his arm.

"Of course." Carly faked a smile at him, something she seemed to be doing a lot lately especially around the people in charge.

"I heard you got yourself involved with an investigation earlier this evening." He said like he was impressed.

"And who did you hear that from?" she replied with her eyebrows raised and a guilty smile on her face.

"Tanner herself actually." Holbrook smirked.

"I guess you heard right then."

"Impressive," He paused as he leant back up straight. "If you want to get in the bad book that is."

"There's a bad book?" Carly couldn't help but chuckle at his words at how childish that sounded.

"No not really," Holbrook smiled making Carly laugh more. "I just thought I would make that up to just scare you, it obviously did not work because you're laughing."

"Yeah you're hilarious." Carly laughed as she shook her head in amusement.

"Well I'm glad I could make you laugh since you did not look so happy when I first started speaking to you."

Carly lowered her head slightly at this, with a small smile playing on her lips and the heat rushing to her cheeks faintly. She could not believe that Holbrook was being so sweet to her still after what happened after the day and what was going on in the office earlier in the day.

She thought that whatever friendship or work relationship they had achieved over the past couple of weeks was on its way out since he was acting so strange. Somehow she felt relieved and glad that he was back to acting his charming old self around her and that things between them were ok again, since she could not put up again with the tension that was in the office for the rest of her working life.

"Thank you," She smiled sincerely as she glanced up at him. "I mean that."

"You're welcome," He returned the gesture and pulled out his car keys from his suit jacket pocket. "Good night, Miss Monroe."

"Good night."

She watched him as he turned around on his feet and made his way over to his cop car further down from where she was parked. Once he was inside his car, she wound up the window and threw on her seat belt, a smile still playing on her lips after what just happened with Holbrook. He actually did make her feel somewhat better.

But she knew that deep down she needed more than just Holbrook's charming manner to cheer her up tonight. Her Dad for once was not working the late shift and actually had the night off which meant he would be home for the rest of the evening.

She had decided on her way back from Ezra's apartment when she was in the car with Tanner and the other cop, that she would head to her Dad's for the night to spend some time with him and she was even thinking about staying over the night, so she did not have to be alone, especially when she was still quite worried about getting another A text.

She just hoped that Spencer would tell Alison and Alison would understand that she could not mess with Carly this time round.

* * *

Just like the other day, Carly pulled up outside her house and shut off the engine, her attention instantly turning to the front of the house which she could see from the driver's door window.

It still felt so weird for her coming back to the house, especially when this was only her second visit since she had returned to Rosewood completely. Even though everything and everyone around her had changed, she was glad that the home she had grown up in had not; she could still go back there whenever she wanted to and see her Dad.

Climbing out of the car, she made her way up the front path and headed her way towards the side of the house, knowing her Dad preferred to use the side or back entrance to the house over the front.

Thankfully the side door happened to be open and she let herself in with ease, the room that the side door opened onto happened to the dining room which lead into the kitchen. The lights within these two rooms happened to be off, signalling that her Dad was either in his study or another room of the house.

Pulling off her heels, she closed the door behind her and made her way through into the house. "Dad," Carly called as she flicked on the kitchen light to put her bag down on the island in the middle of the space and take off her trench coat "Dad."

However there was no answer, although as she got stepped out of the kitchen she could hear his voice and talking coming from the sitting room on the left hand side of the hall. Rolling her eyes, she presumed he was on the telephone talking to one of his friends or either had the television up super loud, as per usual.

"Dad…I was calling you…I-" Carly wondered through into the sitting room but once she saw two other visitors in the room with her Dad, she came to a halt and went quiet in shock that he had guests.

"Carly I didn't hear you come in," John said just as surprised to see his daughter. "I thought you would be at work."

"Uh yeah I just finished. I thought I would come see you." Carly told him in a quiet tone and was unable to look at the people also in the room in the eye, so she kept her attention on her Dad, who had no idea how she was feeling.

"Well that's a nice surprise." He smiled at her just as one of the visitors at the house spoke up.

"Yeah it's good to see you Carly." Jack, the middle aged guy with dark brown hair and dark eyes, with a light layer of stubble over his chin, dressed in a plain white shirt and smart trousers sat on one of the arm chairs, informed her causing her to look at him.

"You too." Carly mustered up a smile, feeling nothing more than awkward and uneasy to be facing people she had not seen in years so unexpectedly. She was so not prepared for this after the day she had been through.

"Hi Carly."

A soft voice greeted her next causing her to look over at the woman who had spoken to her after her father had. This person happened to be the person she was least wanting to have to speak to and be friendly towards after not being in contact with years. She felt like this was just going to end up in a big disaster and wanted to get out of that room as soon as possible.

"Hi," She looked over at the woman quickly before turning back to her Dad, who at least eased her nerves slightly. "I'm going to go get a class of water."

Before giving any of them a chance to answer, she rushed out of the room and into the kitchen where she grabbed a glass out of one of the cabinets. Quickly she filled the glass with some water and pulled open the back door which lead out into the back yard.

Sighing loudly, she stepped out onto the decking that lined the area that attached the back yard to the house. Walking across the wooden beams with her glass in her hand, she came to a stop at the two steps that lead down to the grass area, before taking a seat down on the top step and taking a large sip out of her water.

She had literally only been sitting out there for a couple of moments, when she heard footsteps behind her and her body tensed up at the persons voice.

"What are you doing out here all alone?" Charlotte asked who happened to be the daughter of Jack, as well as a blast from the past for Carly.

"I just needed to get some air." Carly answered her still unsure that she liked the idea of talking to Charlotte again after all this time.

It was weird for her to see her again and Carly could only imagine that Charlotte felt exactly the same about seeing her.

Charlotte, who remained silent for the time being came and took a seat down beside Carly, as well as following Carly's gaze over to the back of the yard which was pitch black and quiet. It was peaceful and a great space to think when you had a lot going on. Carly always use to go out there when she needed sometime to breathe.

"I was shocked when my Dad told me he saw your car parked outside John's house the other afternoon." Charlotte told her.

"Uh yeah I was just visiting my Dad." Carly replied back as she took another sip out of the water and laid it down beside her.

"Visiting as in you're not staying?"

"Visiting as in I have my own place now." Carly corrected her with a small smile.

Charlotte nodded her head and a smile broke out onto her lips like she was proud of what she was hearing from the younger woman "It all worked out for you then."

"I guess so." She told her softly as she tucked a strand of her behind her ear.

If all honestly she felt slightly awkward to answer that question since everyone who had asked her that so far knew of her past and acted like it was a shock it worked out right for her after the state she was in last time she was in Rosewood.

"So what are you up to now? You have obviously finished college." Carly quizzed her wanting to get the topic of conversation off her and try to remove the awkward tension that filled the two of them.

"Yeah I work at the medical centre now as a nurse when I'm not looking after Gracie." Charlotte informed her as she pulled out her phone from the back of her jeans pocket and unlocked it before motioning it towards Carly.

After seeing what Charlotte was doing, Carly turned her head to look at the phone that was in her view now and stared down at the screensaver on the phone. It was a picture of a young baby girl with bright blue eyes, a small covering of dark hair lay on the top of her head, a cheesy grin was on her face and she was dressed in the cutest white sun dress.

"She's so adorable," Carly beamed at Charlotte and for the first time actually looked at her with ease "She looks exactly like you."

"That's what everyone says." Charlotte laughed slightly as her face altered "Thank god!"

Carly flashed a brief smile in Charlotte's direction knowing that the subject was still sensitive and raw for her just like the matters of Carly's past was her. They both knew not to step over each other's boundaries; especially Charlotte who also blamed herself for Carly's down fall and had promised her father and John that she would not get in contact with Carly whilst she was at Law school, as well as making sure that if she ever came back from Rosewood that she would not get close to her.

But as soon as Charlotte saw the younger woman return home and leave the room so abruptly, she couldn't help but go after her and act like nothing had happened to either of them, because that's exactly what they both told themselves on a daily basis. That it was all over now, however much the emotional and mental scars were still there in their heads.

It was like another reason why the two of them could not be around each other for long due to the past. Also another person Carly could not be around.

"Charlotte." Jack called his daughters name from inside of the voice causing the two girls to snap back to reality and Charlotte to pull the phone away from Carly. "We're leaving now."

"I should probably get going then," Charlotte told her obviously wanting to get rid of the awkward tension that had filled the two of them and to follow her father's orders "It was great seeing you again Carly."

"You too." Carly nodded back at her as Charlotte pulled herself up off the decking and made her way back inside, leaving Carly alone outside.

Carly watched her walk away and inside the house, before she disappeared into the hallway of the home and arrived at the front door beside her father who was bidding farewell to John.

She exhaled loudly, before she picked up the water and took the last remaining sip out of glass to try to relieve some of the stress that she was feeling, as well as the emotions seeing Charlotte again had brought up for her.

Carly would never have blamed Charlotte for what happened that year. Charlotte was just being the older big sister like she always had been to Carly, ever since Carly moved in next door to Charlotte and her family when Carly was five years old.

Through her childhood and up to her teenage years, Carly looked up to Charlotte as being her older sister, someone she could go to for girl advice regarding things like puberty and fashion since Carly had no one else female in her life to talk to about those types of things.

Even when Charlotte had gone off to college two hours away from where they lived in Rosewood, Charlotte would always come back at the weekends and during the holiday's to see her family, as well as Carly. It wasn't her fault that Carly had gotten in with the wrong crowd back then. She never told her to go over to them. Carly had done that all by herself without Charlotte's enthusiasm to push her.

 ** _~Flash Back~_**

 _It was a quiet Friday evening in Rosewood, most of the residents were returning home from work to be with their families and put their feet up for the weekend, kids were out playing on the climbing frames in their backyards whilst teenagers were heading to friend's houses for parties or sleepovers._

 _On the other hand, senior Carly Monroe was sitting on the bench in the corner of her back yard with a History textbook open beside her with a notepad on her lap and a pen in one hand studying for her final year of high school._

 _Some would consider her crazy and a geek for spending her friend night at home all alone studying for an exam whilst other people her age were out having fun and not caring about their school work for just one night._

 _But Carly wasn't like most people her age, her career and her education came before anything, so if it meant that she would spend her week days going to school, then studying after school till bed and spending her weekend's doing the same, then so be it if it meant she would get into her dream college and become a detective like she had wanted._

 _Just as she flicked over the page in her text book, the sound of a loud girly shriek came from her neighbour's back yard causing her to avert her attention in the direction of the scream._

 _Carly rolled her eyes with a small smirk tugging at the corner of her lips when she realised who it was, her next door neighbour Charlotte and her friends were hanging out in the back yard._

 _She was hoping they weren't going to make too much noise since she enjoyed studying in the back yard in the late summer air in a hoodie, jean shorts, her hair tied up in a messy top not and minimal makeup with no one to disturb her._

 _However, she spoke too soon on that one when the sound of Charlotte climbing up onto the decking on the side of her yard and glanced over the fence at Carly who was also looking back at her._

 _"Hello Miss Monroe." Charlotte bellowed over the fence causing Carly to laugh at how cheerful she sounded._

 _"Hi Charlotte." Carly replied dropping her pen down on her notebook._

 _"Why is that whenever I look out of my window I can see you with your head buried in some school book in that same spot and in the same high school hoodie." Charlotte teased her which only could make Carly laugh lightly under her breath._

 _"Because I'm busy studying for my test." She answered like she was stating the obvious._

 _"A test that is probably not even due till the end of this week? Am I right?" Charlotte guessed which made Carly lower her head slightly embarrassed and only made Charlotte amused, she knew Carly way too well. "Why don't you just have some fun and ditch the book's just for one night?"_

 _"And do what?" Carly questioned looking over at her with raised eyebrows._

 _"Come out with me and the girls."_

 _"No way! That's not fair on your friends I can't just come with you guys."_

 _"C'mon Carl's! You're basically family; the girl's love you just as much as I do." Charlotte begged with hopeful eyes._

 _"I don't know I feel bad." Carly shrugged._

 _"Please Carly. You were in Washington the whole summer and I didn't get to see you once." Charlotte sighed dramatically "This is my last night in town Carly before I head back to college, please don't let me down before I go away tomorrow."_

 _Carly was unsure of what she should do since Charlotte had so unexpectedly asked her to go out with her and her friends, whatever that meant anyway but still she had promised she would stay at the house tonight and study whilst he worked late at the hospital. But one night away from studying wouldn't hurt surely? Especially when History was one of the classes she was passing with flying colours and had the whole week to study more._

 _Plus Charlotte was someone who didn't give up until she got what she wanted and Carly didn't want to miss the opportunity to hang out with the girl she considered a sister especially when it was Charlotte's last night in town before heading back to college the following day. Cary owed that to her at least._

 _"Fine I'll go." Carly threw her hands up in the air before grabbing her studying equipment and standing up with it in her arms. "What have you guy's got planned?"_

 _"We're heading to a gathering on the outskirts of town just a few friends for high school." Charlotte informed her causing Carly's smile to drop slightly._

 _"Like a party?"_

 _"Yes Carly. It will be like a party" Charlotte laughed as Carly wondered over to the fence and Charlotte noticed the look on Carly's face. "Relax. You've been to parties before so what's the issue?"_

 _To be honest, it wasn't that parties weren't her scene because she had been to high school parties before with her friends where she had been hit on countless of times by a few of the guys from the school basketball team and gotten tipsy a few times from the punch. But she didn't really know what to expect from a gathering with college people? Would they think of her as a high schooler, a kid and someone who was a dork?_

 _"Nothing." Carly was quick to answer and gave Charlotte a reassuring smile. "Just haven't been involved with an older crowd before."_

 _"You'll love it." Charlotte relieved her before motioning her hand towards Carly's house._

 _Charlotte knew that deep down Carly had a fun side of her past the studying and career goals. It was obvious she was one of the popular girl's at school but she couldn't seem to see that. Charlotte knew all about the guys who had been hitting on her throughout high school and Carly had just brushed off about it because it wasn't something she cared about. But Charlotte wanted to change that. She wanted that fun side of Carly to come out and she wanted her to find her first love._

 _"Now go get ready we're leaving soon. Dress to impress Miss Monroe."_

* * *

 _The sound of music, laughing and talking could be heard once the girls had pulled up outside a dirt track just on the outskirts of town. At this point in time, Carly's nerves had increased rapidly and all she could think about was how much trouble she was going to be in if her Dad arrived home from his night shift before she could get back from the party._

 _The four of them stepped out of one of the girl's car which was parked alongside the other cars at the end of the track. Charlotte grinned at her friends when she saw how excited they all looked and knew how much fun they were going to have here tonight seeing all the people they went to school with._

 _For Carly she knew that she would most probably stand out like a sore thumb compared with the others that were going to be at the gathering. This was one of the main reasons why she lagged behind the other girls on the way through the dirt track and towards the green area forest area where the party was taking place._

 _Charlotte was the first one to notice how uncomfortable and how far behind Carly was from the rest of them. Part of her felt bad for dragging her out of study session and to an event with groups of people she had never met before. But she did not regret it in the slightest because she knew that Carly needed to have fun and let loose sometimes. It was also the perfect chance for her to spend some time with the girl she considered a sister._

 _Slowing down to let Carly catch up, Charlotte turned her head round to face the teenager "C'mon Carls. Everything will be fine. Just relax."_

 _"I'm fine." Carly tried to tell her but with the look of accusation on Charlotte's face, Carly knew that Charlotte did not believe her. "Ok… I'm just a bit apprehensive. I'm going to stick out so much."_

 _"Why? Because you're a teenager in high school?"_

 _"Yes!"_

 _"No one will know that unless you tell them." Charlotte reassured her and wrapped her arm around the girls back. "Smile little Monroe."_

 _Rolling her eyes playfully, she nudged Charlotte off her and let out a light laugh knowing that her friend was right. She had to just relax and act the part. There was no point showing the strangers at the party that she was some uncomfortable teenager who was still in school and had been studying hard moments before turning up here._

 _Charlotte joined in her laughter for a brief moment until they reached the entrance of where the party was. Carly's eyes flashed away from Charlotte and over to the crowded scene in front of her._

 _There was a mixture of girls and guys scattered over the dirt and wood area of where the gathering was being held. Rocks, tree stumps and logs were being used at seating areas, where people sat in groups chatting away to one another reminiscing about high school memories, as well as catching up with one another._

 _Drinks in bright red cups and beer bottles were in their hands like any other party, the loud rumbles of laughter came from one of the corners of the area where a group of guys were busying smoking some substance and joking around with each other, a speaker and an iPod beside them where the music was coming from._

 _The air was thick with drug and alcohol fumes but it did not seem to bother Carly that people were getting intoxicated. The only thing that seemed to bother her or catch her eye in fact, was the guy she thought she would never ever see again and here he was in a place like this, right there, staring right at her just like she was gazing back at him._

 _She could not believe he was actually here. She could not believe that she was seeing him again after that day at Melissa's when she had first set eyes on him. This was getting so weird for her, especially when he was staring right back at her like he had remembered her from that day._

 _She believed that he would not have remembered her since that was weeks ago and right back at the start of the summer. It was already the first week since Carly had been back at school._

 _"Carly." Charlotte yelled over the music trying to get her attention when she had noticed Carly came to a stop at the entrance of the party._

 _Charlotte's eyes trailed in the direction in which Carly was looking and a small smirk formed on her lips when she saw who she was staring at. Instead of calling her name again, the older girl wondered over to the teenager and wrapped her arm around her causing Carly to quickly jump out of her trance._

 _"Uh, sorry." Carly apologised as she let Charlotte lead her away and over to a group of people Carly did not recognise._

 _Charlotte unwrapped her arm from Carly's back when she spotted some of the girl's she also use to go to school with and it wasn't long before Charlotte was running into their arms._

 _Whilst Charlotte and her friends were catching up with their old friends, this left Carly nothing better to do than grab one of the red cups off one of the tree stumps before taking a large sip out of the alcoholic beverage to try make her fit in with the rest of the crowd and not like a lost puppy._

 _The taste at first burnt the back of her throat and made her stomach go all weird since she had not had any form of alcohol in a while, it was a taste that once you got used to it after a few sips it went away. The last time must have had any must been at the end of junior year party that some guy in her grade held at his house. But since then she had not been to any parties or had the need to drink alcohol till now._

 _It had been about half an hour into the party when Carly had realised that coming to a party without knowing anyone apart from Charlotte and her friends was a bad idea. All she had done since she had got there was sit alone upon one of the logs on the outskirts of the party and take sips out of her drink. She just hoped that she could head home sometime soon._

 _Suddenly the sound of footsteps against the dirt and the feel of someone presents beside her, caused her heart rate to increase slightly before she titled her head to the side to see who it was._

 _"Hello stranger." Jason said to her his voice slightly soft and daring which could only make her heart pound more._

 _"Hey." Carly greeted back happily as she turned more to see him and tried to hide the nerves she felt inside._

 _"I'm quite surprised to see you here since you're one of Melissa's friends." Jason teased flashing a mischievous smile at her._

 _She could feel her stomach flutter at the smile that graced his lips, her heart was already pounding by this point and she was pretty sure that it was going to fall out of her chest sometime soon. She hated what this guy was doing to her already and knew that she needed to control herself._

 _"What's that supposed to mean?" Carly questioned accusingly although by the smile on her face, Jason knew that she was just messing around as well._

 _"Just didn't think I'd see one of Melissa's friends here since these parties were never really her and her friend's scene when we were in high school."_

 _"Well maybe I'm different." Carly told him as she brought the cup up to her lips to sip and she glanced over the plastic at him._

 _"Maybe you are." Jason flirted which caused Carly to nearly spit her drink out in surprise._

 _She honestly was so amazed that Jason had flirted with her so easily and confidently. She could not believe her luck right now, that some older guy who she had never even had a proper conversation with was taking interest in her. The same guy that she was considering herself interested in also for the first time ever._

 _Jason bobbed his head over to the group of girl's opposite them trying to spark up more of a conversation with Carly "So how do you know Charlotte?"_

 _Carly followed his gaze over to where Charlotte was chatting to a group of girl's; a grin was prominent on her face as she occasionally took sips from her own drink "She's my next door neighbour." Carly answered him._

 _"I was thinking that I had never seen you around before apart from at the Hasting's place."_

 _"Yeah I probably should not even be here." Carly laughed as she finished off the rest of her drink and placed the cup on the dirt below her._

 _"Why's that?"_

 _"I'm in my last year of high school." She told him honestly and part of her did not even care that she was spilling the truth to Jason._

 _She blamed the alcohol in her system for that action, although he seemed like such a nice guy that she doubt he would even care that she was still in school. She probably would never even see him again after tonight, so why did it matter?_

 _"Oh so you are off to college after this year." Jason guessed as Carly nodded in reply. "Where are you going?"_

 _"New York." Carly told him proudly which could only make him smile more than he already was._

 _"Nice! What are you planning on studying?"_

 _Carly couldn't help but lower her head slightly at this, knowing that if she admitted to him that she was interested in the law enforcement then why the hell would she be at a party, drinking underage and most certainly around drug users._

 _"If I told you, you would probably just laugh in my face." She answered lightly as she looked to the floor._

 _Before Jason could reply back, someone wrapped their arms around his neck and jokingly put him in a head lock position "Hey Jason, you look pretty snug over here with…" Ian the guy who was also from the back yard that day looked over at Carly. "Oh hey I remember you from Melissa's yard that day, nice to see you again."_

 _"It's nice to see you too." Carly smiled at him as he unwrapped himself from Jason._

 _"I'm Ian." He introduced himself to Carly as he held out his hand to her in which she reluctantly took._

 _"Carly." She informed him as she shook his hand before letting go of it._

 _Ian flashed a smile in her direction before turning to look back at Jason "So are you ready to you know what man…"_

 _"Uh…" Jason gave Ian a look as to say 'shut up' before flashing a reassuring smile at Carly who was now looking between the two in confusion._

 _"Ah right, jeez sorry. I'll catch up with you later man," Ian replied as he looked over at Carly one last time. "It was great seeing you Carly."_

 _"You too Ian." Carly said back as Ian waved them goodbye and sauntered over to a group of guys in one of the corners of the area._

 _"Wow Ian managed to get a name out of you even before I could." Jason smirked at her which caught her attention immediately._

 _"All you had to do was ask." She teased._

 _"Okay so what about a number then?"_

 _Carly blinked back at him in shock and her breathed hitched in her throat at what she was hearing coming out his mouth. She could not believe that he actually wanted her number, meaning there was a slight possibility that he wanted to speak to her again after tonight._

 _"Sure." She smirked back at him as he pulled out his cell phone from his back pocket and handed it over to her to put her number in._

 _Carefully she took the device from him and put her number into one of the new contacts before handing it back to him. The same playful daring smile was on his face as he took it back from her and motioned the cup of drink he had in his hands towards her._

 _Staring down at the liquid, she gradually took it from him and looked back up at him with a playful grin. She was acting way too comfortable and confident around him that it actually felt good for once to feel at ease with a guy, instead of feeling like they were going to hit on her or ask to get in her knickers by the end of the night, something she avoided at all costs._

 _But with Jason, it just felt different. Something inside of her was begging her to stay around this guy and not let go of him. He was someone she thought that she was actually interested in and liked how it felt when she was around him. He made her feel comfortable, content and like she could be herself without acting up. She liked that so much already._

 _However, she had now idea that after that meeting, things would change completely. She would not be the good girl everyone once thought she was. As an alternative, she would grow closer to Jason who meant alcohol; partying and being around drugs became more of a daily experience for her more than anything. It also meant lots more drama for her, drama that she really wasn't prepared for._

 ** _~End of Flashback~_**

Carly hated how her mind always seemed to wonder back to Jason at the most ridiculous of times. It always seemed to be at night as well, when she was all alone or when she bumped into someone from her past.

She still wasn't completely over him and she knew that if her mind kept going back over the events from when she was a senior in high school and that summer, she was never going to be able to reach that goal of getting Jason out of her life and not only just her mind.

* * *

 **Author note: Thanks so much for reading and taking an interest in this story.**

 **Special thanks to Rhatch89 and ColdHeartAngel for reviewing. Also thanks to those who either favourited or followed since the last part, thephantom'srose1209 and 1995.**

 **I hope you guys are enjoying this and are not too bored. Please let me know your thoughts. It honestly helps so much to continue on and hear what your ideas/opinions are.**

 **Many thanks**

 **xx**


	15. Tanner - 2 Carly - 0

**Tanner - 2 Carly - 0:**

The next day Carly had her first shift at the station for 9am sharp, so instead of staying at her Dad's house for the night, she headed home after an hour or so of catching up with him which actually helped her feel a lot better than what she was originally feeling from seeing Charlotte again and her day at work with Tanner.

This also meant she slept a lot easier and for a lot longer last night than the previous night. After the good sleep she had experienced, she was able to wake up that day full of energy, a clearer and more positive head than she had the day before.

She had got into the station that morning ten minutes before her shift was supposed to start, which gave her enough time to get herself prepared for the day by overlooking her to do list for the day and checking her emails, as well as replying back to the important ones.

On the top and the most important task on her list was to write individual reports about the investigations she accompanied Tanner to yesterday. She decided to start early on this so that she could make sure that she put a lot of hard work in that was full of correct and realistic information that could be beneficial and used to build more on the case. Also she was going to make sure that the piece of work she produced was way over any standard Tanner expected so that she could impress her so much that she would not be so cross about what happened at Ezra's apartment yesterday.

Carly had been busy working for at least forty five minutes when the office door swung open and Holbrook stepped into their office, a brief case in one hand and his keys in the other.

When his and Carly's eyes met, they both could not help but smile at one another which for some reason made Carly confused as to why she felt so happy to see him this morning. Could she be falling for his charismatic ways after all?

"Well what a lovely way to walk into the office and see you smiling." Holbrook said as he took a seat down at his office chair which was opposite Carly on the other end of the desk they shared.

"Yeah I feel good today." She told him as her eyes went back to the laptop screen in front of her.

"That's very good to hear, Miss Monroe." He replied back before loading up his own laptop to begin the work he had to do for the day.

Although his eyes still remained on her taking in everything about her that morning, from the way her wavy brunette hair was parted in the middle and with half of it pined back from her face which was beaming with a smile, her skin looked fresh and soft with a tint of pink on her cheeks, the way her long eyelashes made her hazel green coloured eyes pop, as well as the white shirt dress she was wearing giving her look a touch of sophistication.

He loved every single about her including the way she looked and how interesting her personality was to him. He loved how she was so passionate about the job and had aspirations that would take her a long way in life. It was so attractive how she knew exactly what she wanted to do and that she would not stop until she would get it.

Holbrook could relate to that feeling when it came to her in fact. Carly was the first woman he had set eyes on in a long time and it was even more lucky for him that he got to spend most days of the week around her, watching her every move and being able to just sit and talk to her whenever he wanted. He hoped that one day soon she would take interest in him the same way he had took a huge liking to her. They were getting great at work, but he wanted it to progress further and be something more outside of the office that they shared.

He knew that he would have to work hard to get her to like him in that way, even if it was just a little bit. Holbrook understand that she did not want to mix work and relationships, but deep down he knew there was something more to her being so hesitant to wanting to start a relationship and he would do everything in his will to crack that barrier. He wanted to know what had made her so uninterested to start a relationship, it could have not just been purely down to work being the priority, there had to be something else there that was holding her back.

"What?" Carly broke him out of his thoughts when she had felt his lingering stare on her and she could not help but smirk.

"I'm just thinking." Holbrook informed her as he leant back slightly in his seat, his eyes still not leaving hers or her face.

"About what?"

"About us." He admitted without a hesitation or a nervous tone in his voice.

It was like that he was confident to tell her exactly how he felt about her because he was so sure that he would get her in the end.

"Us?" Carly laughed as she crossed her arms and leant them against the desk surface. "Is there an us?"

"There will be." Holbrook told her with a smug look on his face as he stood up from his chair and went over to the filing cabinets at the back.

"You sound very sure of yourself." She replied spinning around on her seat to face him.

"Oh I am."

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"Because I'm a detective if you have not forgotten that Miss Monroe," Holbrook reminded her as he began to file away some files "so I will find out why you're so reluctant to start something with me and then once that's over with, they'll be nothing stopping you from wanting me."

Carly's jaw dropped slightly at his announcement, part of her could not believe how cocky he seemed to be about getting her and start some relationship with her. But it was Holbrook he was so charismatic what else could she have expected from him?

However, she certainly did not expect to hear him say that he would find out why she was so unwilling to get into a relationship with anyone or him for that matter. It scared her somewhat to hear him say that because if he really was serious about finding out, then it meant he would have to dig deeper into her past and he would end up looking into all the bad drama what happened to her that year.

And she could not afford to have him find all that about her because it would risk her position on the force, something she had worked her butt off her whole life for her and would not let him ruin that for her.

Getting up quickly from her seat, she grabbed some of the folders off her desk and her bag before walking over to the door with her heart pounding in her chest, the same feelings of anxiety she had felt when he had integrated her on her first day here, came flooding back to her in such speed that she knew she could not stay to be around him right now.

"Where are you off to?" Holbrook questioned her, causing her to stop in her tracks and bite down on her bottom lip to muster up some excuse to leave the room.

"Uh I'm just going to go see Tanner about something." She answered him nervously, before taking hold of the door handle and pulling it open.

No doubt Holbrook's suspicions would grow increasingly about her after this stunt.

Within seconds, she hurried out of the door and over to where she could see Tanner's office at the end of the foyer. Thankfully her blind was open, so that she could already see her inside the office, busy at her desk typing away on the computer but she would not be any more, when she saw Carly stood outside her office, already knocking at the door, trying to beat away the anxiety she felt.

"Come in." Tanner called looking away from the door and back onto her screen.

Carly gently pushed open the door and wondered inside, making sure that she shut the door behind herself to give the two of them the privacy and to make sure that Holbrook did not decide to follow her.

"Miss Monroe. What can I do for you?" Tanner asked her as Carly took a seat down on one of the chairs that sat in front of the large desk.

"U-u-uh I was just coming to check over a few things with you about the report." Carly stumbled out as she pulled out one of the pages of her report she had typed out earlier from her bag.

Tanner finally turned her attention to the young woman opposite her, before taking her glasses off her head and instead putting them on her nose to read the report Carly was now passing over to her.

Carly watched anxiously as Tanner read over the first page of the report she had typed up as Carly's mind was going over and over what Holbrook had said back in their office. She was still shocked he was that determined to make her his.

"Hmmm." Tanner hummed as she skim read the page before laying the document down on her desk unamused. "What was it that was the issue?"

"Oh no issue Lieutenant," Carly breathed "I just wanted to make sure I was on the right track."

"I don't see how you wouldn't be and from this it seems a good enough standard," Tanner told her which made Carly's lip twitch up in a small smile. "If you're unsure of something you can always just check with Detective Holbrook rather than coming to see me as I am very busy."

"Oh I am so sorry for your wasting your time, Lieutenant Tanner."

"Don't apologise. Just check with Detective Holbrook next time, Miss Monroe."

"Of course." Carly swallowed harshly after hearing the mention of his name once again.

It did not go unnoticed to Tanner the way that Carly was acting when she had suggested she speak to Holbrook about something like this. It made the Lieutenant worried that something was up with her trainee detective and the detective that she had working with her on the cases.

Just as Carly had stood back up, the report paper in her hand now and she just inches away from walking out of the room when Tanner interjected "Is something wrong Miss Monroe?" Carly spun back round on her feet with a sheepish look on her face as she looked back at Tanner "Has something happened between you and Detective Holbrook that I should know about?"

"No!" Carly said a little too rapidly and loudly for her own liking, she mentally slapped herself once the words had fell out of her mouth and quickly tried to cover up her actions "Everything is fine."

"He's not bothering you in anyway?"

"No," Tanner rose her eyebrows up at Carly's answer "Why would you think that?"

"Because it can't be easy for either of you, both attractive young people working in a close environment."

"Trust me, Detective Holbrook and I have nothing going on, Lieutenant Tanner."

"If you say so Miss Monroe." Tanner gave her a mischievous smile which could only make Carly more confused at this situation. "Why don't you join me for a few investigations this afternoon?"

"Are you sure you want me there again?" Carly asked in surprise that Tanner wanted her there after yesterday.

"Of course," Tanner nodded at her as she got up from her desk chair and grabbed her coat off the back of it. "I'll meet you outside the front after your lunch break."

Carly smiled back at her excited that she was going to get another chance to go on investigations with Tanner again outside the office, to gain more experience in that field, learn new skills and go further within the case. As well, it gave her the opportunity to prove to Tanner that she was professional despite what happened last time.

It also meant that she would not have to spend as much time with Holbrook in their office. Therefore she could feel at ease and did not have to worry about him watching her every move to dig further into her past that was stopping her from supposedly 'being with him'.

However Carly had no idea just how uncomfortable her afternoon with Tanner would really be.

* * *

Thankfully for Carly, when she had returned back to the office after going to see Tanner, Holbrook was nowhere to be seen and Carly just presumed he had been called out somewhere due to his keys and jacket was out of sight in the office, as well as his laptop lid being shut down.

She was glad that he wasn't there on her return back to the office because it meant she could continue with her report, finish it and get done the other tasks that she had been set before she ventured out with Tanner that afternoon without any distractions, such as Holbrook questioning her more or her mind wondering with worry about what he had said.

Carly exited the station that afternoon after she had finished her lunch break which consisted of heading over to the Brew to grab a toasty and a coffee, before coming back to work to enjoy her refreshments and tidy up her desk area until it was time for her to go meet Tanner.

Her heels clicked along the pavement as she approached Tanner who was stood beside an unmarked cop car just like yesterday. Although this time she did not have a cop or anyone else beside her which gave Carly the impression that they would be riding alone today.

"So glad you could join me." Lieutenant Tanner told Carly as the younger woman stopped at the front of the car with her bag latched over her arm.

"I'm more than happy to tag along." Carly beamed back. The anxiety she felt earlier on the day was with replaced with excitement to be involved again with the investigating side of being a detective.

"Great." Tanner said as she unlocked the car and climbed into the driver's side, which left Carly nothing else to do than join her inside the car in the passenger's seat.

Once the two ladies had got into the car, belted up and Tanner had pulled away from the station, a silence fell upon the two of them and Carly could not help but feel slightly awkward that it was just them two alone in the car.

In this case, Carly decided to spark up a conversation with Tanner and see if she could find out where they were in the case so far since she had not had much time to catch up over the past couple of days since she had been so busy, she would have asked Holbrook like she had before but things between them had been slightly awkward lately.

"So how's the Alison DiLaurentis case coming along?" Carly asked as she looked out of the window, trying to avoid eye contact with Tanner at first in case Tanner thought she was being rude.

"It's coming along slowly," Tanner answered as she turned down a road which leads out to the suburbs of Rosewood. "Somethings still do not seem to make much sense."

"Nothing is ever easy in this town." Carly remarked with a slight exhale.

"Oh yeah, how so?" Tanner asked with raised brows, once Carly gave in to look at her and she could feel her heart start to pound, when a look of integration registered on the Lieutenants face.

"Oh I just meant that from what I have gathered over being here, that it just seems a little complicated and jumbled."

"Like what?" Tanner pushed her further to explain more of how she viewed the case.

This gave Carly mixed signals because she did not know if Tanner was interested in a good way to hear what the trainee detective had to say about what was going on or that she was being out of line again by trying to get herself involved.

"Like how pieces do not seem to make sense…" Carly began as Tanner gave her a look to dig further, which left her with an uncertainty about whether she should mention what had been playing on her mind since she first started at the station. But if she wanted to prove herself to Tanner then she was going to go for it. "….like how Alison just turned up out of the blue saying she was kidnapped and had spent the night in Philly, yet when Holbrook and I were in the office that same night, he heard her voice on the phone when he called the Fitzgerald theatre in New York."

"I think you might be on to something there, Miss Monroe." Tanner said with an impressed look on her face.

Carly let out a small sigh and adjusted her position in her seat "You think so?"

"Oh yeah," Tanner approved as she turned down one of the streets. "That's exactly what we're here to find out right now."

Carly felt her eyes leave Tanner's face, when she realised what road they had turned down and it was like déjá vú was happening to her all over again when she spotted the same street along the dirt road the car was heading down.

Only this time, she knew that she would not run into him again because he had told her he was going out of town and she had not seen him around since that morning. However, that meant that she would not only have to face being around or inside that house again, where all those old messed up memories were, but she would also have to be around Alison, especially after she had received that –A text from her two nights ago nearly.

Last time she had seen the house, she had Holbrook there to comfort her and try to make her feel better about being at a crime scene, even though she was using his words as a way to cope with seeing the guy she fell hard for as a teen again.

This time, this wasn't the case, there was no Holbrook around to reassure her, there was only Tanner, who was pretty much in charge of her and she was already running out of chances with her after yesterday, as well as Carly's weird behaviour in the office this morning regarding Holbrook.

Her heart had already been pounding so much today due to her anxiety and had only just calmed down when she had gone for her lunch break, yet here it was again making her feel like she could not breathe, she could already feel her hands begin to tremble in fear and if she didn't get herself together soon, she was pretty sure Tanner would be asking questions of her own for Carly instead.

Unlucky for Carly, Tanner had already noticed the sudden change in behaviour her trainee detective was giving out in the now silent car and the lack of communication they were now having.

"Would you rather not be here Miss Monroe?" Tanner questioned Carly, her voice thick with confusion and annoyance that Carly was acting this way.

Hearing Tanner's question, she broke out of her thoughts and shook off whatever feelings she was having about being back here. She could not let her anxiety ruin this moment for her. It could result in her career being ruined if she let her guard down because Tanner would probably end up figuring out why she was so uneasy being around the DiLaurentis place and Alison.

"No I do want to be here." Carly told her with a hint of doubt in her voice in which she hoped Tanner would not notice.

She could not help but feel unsure about being back here. It held a lot of unpleasant memories about her past that she hoped she would not have to relive. But every time she came back here, it felt like she was reliving every single one and today was definitely one of those times when her past hit her like a train.

"Because you look like you would want to be elsewhere." Tanner said as they pulled up outside the DiLaurentis house, where Alison and Emily, her other friend were already outside talking but stopped when they saw the car pull up.

"No Lieutenant I want to be here honestly." Carly reassured her before glancing over at Alison and Emily on the front driveway of the DiLaurentis house. "Shall we?"

Instead of answering the young woman, Tanner opened up the driver's door and exited out the car before making her way over to the two girls. With nothing else to do than pluck up the courage and face her demons, Carly jumped out of the car and went over to join them, trying her best to hide her emotions and not let Tanner see how she was really feeling being there or give Alison the prospect of making her feel intimidated.

"Hi." Alison greeted trying to act as normal as she could upon seeing Lieutenant Tanner and Carly turn up at her house. It was still weird for her to see Carly back in Rosewood, let alone on the police force.

"Good afternoon girls," Tanner replied back as they stood in front of each other, Carly looking anywhere but directly at Alison "Is your Dad home?"

"You just missed him; he left for work a minute ago." Alison informed them.

"Oh…" Tanner said a little sarcastically with an amused expression on her face.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" She offered a little too 'sweetly' for Carly's liking.

"Well actually there is, I would like it if you could come down to the station later with your Dad and answer some questions." Tanner told her.

"About what?" Alison asked somewhat confused as to what the police wanted with her now.

"Your childhood friend," Tanner paused as she raised her eyebrows "Shana Fring."

Alison suddenly fell quiet; she could not muster up any words straight because she simply did not know how to respond to what Tanner was asking from her. All she could so was shake her head and look over at Emily with a worried look.

"I still can't believe she's gone." Alison said trying her best to sound deeply saddened about the loss of her old friend.

Carly could not help but want to scoff at this. It was so obvious something had happened.

"Yeah it's so sad." Emily spoke up trying to help Alison in this situation which did not go unnoticed to Carly who had not muttered a word, just like Tanner had instructed her to do yesterday and this time she was sticking to that order.

"So much tragedy for such a small town." Tanner shook her head.

"If there's anything I could help you with…" Alison began but Tanner cut her off.

"Well we were hoping that you could tell us where you were the night that she died."

"I already did," She said titling her head towards Emily. "I was in Philly with the girls."

"Specifically where in Philly…" Tanner paused trying to see if either of them would admit to anything that they had obviously been hiding but once neither of them spoke up she continued "You know…. that kinda thing."

"Well you tell your Dad to give me a call." Tanner instructed as silence fell over them and she brought out her contact card to give to Alison.

Once Alison took the card from her grip, Tanner nodded to Carly and they both turned on their feet to head back to the car. As Alison glanced down at the contact card and back up to where they were both walking away.

"Hey Carly," Alison called gaining her attention as the trainee came to a stop on the dirt and slowly turned to face her "Have you heard from Jason recently?"

Carly's face fell instantly when she heard Alison's question and she could feel the anger bubble up inside her when she saw the smug look on Alison's face. If Tanner wasn't around, Carly was pretty sure she would try her hardest to wipe that arrogant look off the teenagers face and put her in her place.

But Tanner was around and no doubt, Tanner would be asking her questions once they were out of sight of the two Rosewood teenagers. She could not understand why Alison was so desperate to ruin her life when it had been three whole years since everything that had happened. Why couldn't she just stop? She obviously had not understood the message from Spencer, when Carly thought she had been pretty clear enough.

Without giving her the satisfaction, Carly shook her head at the teenager and turned back round on her feet to walk back over to the car. She avoided all eye contact with the Lieutenant as she hopped back into the passenger side of the car and Tanner jumped in beside her.

The engine started up within the car as Carly threw on her seat belt and it wasn't long before Tanner thankfully reversed out of the driveway of the DiLaurentis property, leaving Carly with a feeling of dread and nervousness as to how Tanner was going to react to this situation, as well as Alison making any more rude comments or threats to her.

After a few minutes of driving where the car had been completely silent, Tanner suddenly pulled the car over onto the side of the road and carefully parked up against. Carly felt herself swallow harshly when she could see Tanner at the corner of her eye turn to look at her with a disapproving expression.

"Miss Monroe, this job is not some silly little game and cannot be used as something to pass the time," Tanner told her in which Carly went to interject but Tanner held up her hand to stop her "Now I don't know what the hell went on there but I'm going to need some answers."

"Lieutenant Tanner I can assure you that this is not just some job to me. This is my dream and I have wanted this for so long, trust me when I say I had no idea Alison would spark up a conversation with me." Carly defended herself as her heart began to pound in her chest nervously.

Her hatred towards Alison had definitely grown within the past five minutes and would grow increasingly more if it meant she would lose her job because of what Alison said back there.

"Miss Monroe if there is something going on between you and the people within this case then I must know about it right now, I can't keep having you interrupting my investigations," Tanner said in an unamused tone "This is a police force, not a high school courtyard."

"I understand that and I completely agree with you that this is something to take serious. And I do take this a 110% serious. This is a job I have wanted my whole life. I have been preparing for this day since I was a kid and I want nothing more than to continue working with you Lieutenant," Carly rambled her case to Tanner trying her best to win her over and prove to her that she was serious because it was all 100% true.

Carly had wanted this job for so long and now she got it, everyday seemed like such a nervous rollercoaster of trying not to lose it and not let her past or anyone who knew about that part of her get in the way of her reaching her dream goal.

"If you and Mr DiLaurentis, the brother of the person's case we are working on, have some involvement with one another, then maybe you should not be on this case at all."

"I swear to you Lieutenant, there is nothing going on between us," Carly shook her head in desperation. "I'm so serious about this job. I am so committed to becoming a detective and working alongside you regardless of my actions and my relationships with people in this town."

When Tanner went quiet and did not say no more, Carly felt defeated and like this was going to over with before it had hardly even began. Her Dad and Brooke were going to be so disappointed in her for ruining her chances by letting Alison get to her like that.

"The only involvement I have with the DiLaurentis' is the case and nothing else." Carly told her honestly and one last time for the push to get Tanner to forgive her for what happened back there.

She literally vowed to herself that something like this must never happen again especially when Tanner was around.

"Very well Miss Monroe." Tanner said after a few more moments of silence and she started the car up again, before pulling away from the road side and heading back to the station for the rest of the day.

When they had pulled away from the curb, Carly blew out a sigh of relief that Tanner did not seem as cross with her anymore. Although she knew that she definitely had to be extra careful, she would have to make sure she was impressing Tanner rather than doubting her trust within Carly and must do everything she possibly can to not get on her bad side ever again. She had definitely been on that side too much over the past couple of days.

Right now, a strong coffee was calling her name and a sit down after the afternoon she had sounded like a pretty good idea to her right now. She knew as soon as she got back to the station she would be heading to the coffee machine and would not be moving from her desk until the end of her shift.

Today had been way too much again for her. She just hoped that things would get better.

* * *

 **Author note: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this part.**

 **I really hope you're enjoying the story and not loosing interest because of the lack of Jason, trust me he is coming in it properly soon and I have so much planned. I am really struggling to get back into writing this story since season finale and I personally feel like you guys don't enjoy it as much anymore, which makes me just feel like there's no point to writing if no one is enjoying it.**

 **I don't know? Maybe I'm just overthinking it all but if you do still like this and want me to continue, then please let me know because it will help me a great deal in getting back to writing and reassure me that there still is hope.**

 **Special thanks to RHatch89 (you always take the time to review and read, so thank you so much for that!), guest who reviewed last part, as well as girlofdreams. I apologise if I have forgotten anyone else! If I have please let me know.**

 **Thanks again for reading,**

 **xx**


	16. Pity Party

**Pity Party:**

Later on in the day when she had finished work, Carly found herself sat in the Brew on the couch near the back with a muffin and a coffee to keep her company. She did not really fancy heading back to her apartment for the rest of the evening to be alone and be swallowed up in her own thoughts that kept circling around her head.

After the stressful day she had had or the stressful week in fact, people watching and eating comfort food was the best way for her to relax without having to worry about the issues that were really going on in her life.

She had always tried to be a positive and enthusiastic person her whole life until she went through hell just under three years ago. Going through what she went through, certainly damaged her in many ways but for just over six months she had been feeling her old easy going self again.

That was until she came back to Rosewood and every day recently seemed such a struggle for her. She understand that coming back to her home town when she had gone through so much in her senior year and the last day she was in town had ended really badly, was going to be hard for her since it held a lot of past demons and horrible memories for her.

But she did not realise how hard it would be to see everyone and everything around her feel and look so different than what it used to be. Also she did not know just how hard it was going to be to hide her past from Tanner and Holbrook, the people in charge of her in the force. She thought that they would not even care about her past or who she was involved with in this town. But it seemed like both of them were gaining more and more knowledge about her whole life that she was really not ready for them to know about her.

Therefore that evening, she decided she would allow herself just one night to let herself be down and unhappy with how she was feeling, as well as everything that had been going on for her recently.

She knew if she could just sit there and sulk for the rest of the day then when she would wake up tomorrow, she would feel a lot more positive about different circumstances. It was her way of coping with things as opposed to other alternative methods she might have used previously.

Just as she finished off her muffin, the sound of gradual footsteps coming her way caused her head to look up at the person now approaching her and a feeling of fear washed over her when she saw them.

Could this day get any worse now that they had decided to show up and ruin her pity party for one?

"Hi."

Carly brushed away the crumbs off her lap and looked away from them, not wanting to give them any attention, because in her eyes they did not deserve it right now, since she had been so anxious earlier when she had seen them and she did not want to stand to be around them if they had come to dig for dirt on her past.

"Hi."

"Mind if I sit?" Holbrook asked her motioning towards the seat beside her on the couch with his coffee cup.

Carly shrugged her shoulders in response, before he decided to sit down beside her anyway and she scooted over a little to give them some space.

"Rough day?" He said as he took a sip out of his coffee as she looked forward rather than at him.

"Rough week." She mumbled back as she watched the people entering the Brew.

He turned his gaze onto her and could see the sad expression on her face, which could only make him feel guilty that he may have caused some of that sadness. He hated her seeing her look so upset, since he had really began to care for her over the past few weeks of knowing her and liking her.

"Look Carly, I am so sorry for what happened back at the office earlier today. I don't know what the hell is wrong with me but I keep being up and down with you, I know. But trust me, I don't mean to be. I just don't know how to act around you anymore since our date and how much I keep falling for you," Holbrook explained to her which caused her to lower her head somewhat embarrassed but also with uncertainty. "I know I have probably annoyed you and hurt your feelings but I don't mean to be. When I want something, I'll do anything in my nature to get it; you must know what that's like surely."

Carly let a small sigh escape her lips as she could really relate to what he was saying about doing anything in my nature to get it. She had done that way too many times in her life such as when she was trying to win over Jason and done some pretty stupid things to gain his attention or how eager and desperate she must have sounded in her interviews with Tanner for her position on the force.

"Of course I do." She replied back to him and for the first time looked his way.

"I know an apology surely can't change what happened but I just want you to know I am really sorry." He told her with sincerity and she could not help but believe him.

Flashing him a light smile, she nodded her head back at him and took hold of her coffee cup before taking a sip out of the warm liquid "Just forget it."

"Now are you going to tell me what else is beating you up inside of there?" He questioned her after a few moments of silence had passed between the two of them.

"Just getting into Tanner's 'bad books' again." Carly complained as she faked a smile and referenced to what he said last night as a joke.

"What happened this time?"

"I don't think she believes I am as serious about this job as I was originally."

"Why? Is she blind? Has she not seen you work and your determination to become a detective?" Holbrook asked her more in disbelief that Tanner would think that.

"Let's just say that she thinks I am involved with the people within the Alison DiLaurentis case more than what would be as expected from someone in my position." She told him briefly as she finished off the rest of her coffee and laid it down on the table in front of her.

Confused, Holbrook turned his head to the side slightly as he looked at her "And are you?"

Carly glanced at him as she leant slightly back on the couch and shook her head "No I'm not."

"Well that's the problem solved then surely," Holbrook said as Carly shrugged unsure if she had even won Tanner over enough.

"Come on Carly. Cheer up babe. Where's that lovely smile I like?" He nudged her side with his elbow which caused her to let out a light laugh teasingly.

"You're such a charmer." She told him playfully as she jokingly rolled her eyes at him.

"Made you smile though, didn't it?"

"Yeah I guess so." Carly rubbed her lips together with the corners of her lips switched up.

For around twenty minutes, Carly and Holbrook just sat talking to one another about work, as well as their plans for the future, college and other general bits and pieces. She had managed to feel slightly better to be able to talk to him again without having to worry about him digging into her past since he had not brought up that topic or him acting strange with her.

It felt good to be able to just chill and get to know him a little better outside of the office again as they had not had a casual conversation since their date that night the previous week. Part of her felt grateful that she formed a bond with Gabe and even though he was flirtatious with her and was persistent about her getting to know her past, she really felt like she had formed a friendship with him, that one day maybe could blossom into something else. But it was a long way from that yet.

She had forgiven him about earlier, of course, but it still lingered in the back of her mind that he might try to ask her or figure out what is holding her back from dating. That meant she would still always have the smallest nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach when she talked to him, in case it ever decided to come up again and would leave her feeling more cautious than relaxed round him.

But for right now, Carly felt better and she did feel comfortable around him. So comfortable enough that she could feel herself beginning to get tired and hungry, which meant she decided to call it quits for the rest of the night and head home for some dinner, as well as a shower and sleep in her bed.

"I should probably head home now, but thank you for apologising and sitting with me. It was really nice to just talk." Carly told him as she bent down to pick up her bag from the floor beside her feet.

"You're completely welcome. If you ever need to talk you know where I am and how to contact me." Holbrook guaranteed her.

Smiling at him in thanks, she leant over to him and placed a light kiss onto his cheek which left him completely gob smacked that she had done that at all and in public.

"I'll see you when I'm next in." She said as she hooked her bag on her shoulder and he nodded back at her with a smirk.

Getting up from her seat, she bided him goodbye again, before she made her way towards the exit of the Brew with a small smile playing on her face, knowing that even though things had not been the easiest this week, things still had the chance to get better and she would try her hardest to make her time in Rosewood again the best it could possibly be.

Just as she had exited the Brew and made her way back over to her car, her phone beeped in the pocket in her jacket signalling that she had a message. Pulling it out with no care in the world, she crossed over the road and once she had reached the other side, she unlocked it to click on the new message she had received.

Her face fell slightly when she realised that the message was from a blocked number again just like from the other night. She could already feel the dread and anger bubble up inside of her knowing that this had to be some stupid -A text again from Alison.

 **'Trying to get close to your boss won't hide your past and Jason from those who are really in charge, we all know that a secret doesn't stay secret for long and Jason will always be your number one, better luck next time –A'**

Pulling the phone away from her attention, she spun around on her feet and looked around her surroundings for any signs of Alison or whoever the hell this –A person was who was meddling with her. She knew that whoever had just sent this message had to be someone who was in the Brew or had witnessed her with Holbrook, otherwise how else they would have known she was there with him.

Unlucky for Carly, she could not see anyone who looked suspicious or the dirty blonde teenager anywhere. Part of her felt disappointed that the message she had sent to Spencer to give to Alison had not worked, yet she should have known Alison would not give up until Carly was probably gone and she should have suspected that from their little run in earlier with Tanner.

The other part of her was pretty much scared that -A or Alison was right about her past and could threaten her with it. Carly knew that one day somehow or another, her past would not be so much a secret anymore to the people in this town or maybe even her boss and she knew she would have to deal with it in the best way possible when that occurred.

But whilst it was still something very private, that only a few people really knew about, she promised to keep it that way rather than let everyone in on how the teenager everyone thought was pretty special and a good too shoes, was actually a reckless and drunken girl who was up to no good most nights.

Also –A knew exactly how much Jason meant to Carly and she even agreed with –A that Jason would be her number one for a while. But if Holbrook was a good enough distraction for her from that then maybe she could prove –A wrong.

Shaking her head, she took a deep breath and stuffed her phone back into her jacket pocket, before marching her way over to her car to get home and just relax after everything that had been going on. A good night's sleep was exactly what she needed and this time –A was not going to stop that from happening.

She would not let –A get to her.

* * *

Carly had proved herself right, when she woke up the next morning after what felt like the longest sleep she had actually had in years and was already spending her morning being busy by eating her breakfast, tidying up the apartment, replying to a few emails, finishing off her reports for Tanner and was then about to get ready for her lunch date.

She was grateful that she was not at work today because she felt like if she returned back straight away then Tanner would be watching her every move. Having a day off meant she could clear the air a little with Tanner and not have to feel like she was stepping on egg shells around her.

Also she thought that if she got her reports done and emailed across to Tanner before she was expected in next, then she could prove to Tanner that she was serious enough about the job to do work from home, even on her day off and hopefully would mean that she was back in Tanner's 'good books' instead of her 'bad' one.

Having the day off also meant that she could just relax without having to feel paranoid about certain things and could meet with her old friend, Melissa Hastings for some lunch. She really needed a friend right now, even if she would not admit it to herself or even be honest with Melissa about the –A messages she had received, simply because they had the mention of Jason in them.

If Melissa found out about the night Carly spent with Jason and how she had his phone number sat in her bed side table draw, then she was sure that her friend would not be happy with her in the slightest and would never speak to her again. That meant that telling her about the messages she had got from the blocked number that she thought was Alison, was a no go and she would have to keep that to herself for the time being until she took matters into her own hands.

Jumping out of the shower, she wrapped a large white soft towel around her body and wondered back through into her bedroom, where her outfit for the day was already laid out on her bed. She had received an email yesterday when she was at work from Melissa saying she was back in town for a bit and wanted to know if she wanted to grab lunch with her tomorrow.

Of course Carly had agreed because she had the day off from work and it would be great to just catch up with Melissa, to pretend to be a normal twenty one year old despite the drama going on in her life at the moment. Although Melissa had asked Carly to text her that morning to discuss things such as the venue of their lunch date and the times which meant she was going to have to use her phone again.

Carly had not looked or even touched her phone, since receiving the –A text yesterday and she felt like if it was well hidden away from her sight, then she would be able to forget about it more easily without having to worry that she would get another text again.

Slowly wondering over to where her coat was hung up in her closet, she dug her hand into the pocket and pulled out her phone. As she went to unlock the phone, the icon that symbolised for it being out of charge appeared and she knew that she would have to charge it up in order to see if she had got any more messages.

Once she had got her charger and put the phone on charge, she dried off her body and changed into the outfit she had picked for the day. It consisted of a pair of black high waisted skinny jeans, a short sleeve deep V-neck grey top with a light wash denim shirt thrown over the top with the buttons undone. She paired the looked with some metallic silver pointed ankle strap flat shoes, a black tote bag and a silver necklace with a small pendant on. The overall look was casual and perfect for her day off since it made a change from wearing smart clothing for the office.

When she had gotten dressed, she made a start on her hair which was styled into a side braid with her hair in a side parting for once. Instead of moving onto her makeup, she decided to check on her how her phone was getting on. When she picked it up and looked at it, the key code had come up for her to unlock it, in which she did and the home screen came on display not long after.

Her chest tightened slightly when she saw she had three new messages and she prayed that they were not going to be from –A. Hesitantly, she moved her thumb over the screen and clicked on the message icon.

Shortly after, her messaging page popped up onto her screen where four conversations were open including the one from before with her Dad that she never deleted it off, as well as Brooke's that was never deleted and she had a new message from. Luckily, that only left the two messages she had got and they happened to be from Melissa and Holbrook.

Sighing in relief, she quickly replied back to Brooke's before moving onto Holbrook's that was from him hoping that she was ok and that their chat had made her feel better. A smile broke out on her lips when she had read his message, she could not believe how sweet and caring he was being to her when just twenty four hours ago he had been trying to figure out her past.

Carly typed out of a reply to him thanking him for yesterday in the Brew, as well as informing him that she was good and that she hoped he was ok and that he wasn't missing her too much today. When she had finished replying to him, she read and replied to Melissa's message about their lunch date.

After a few text messages between the pair, they finally agreed to meet within the next half an hour at the Grille. This meant that Carly really had to hurry up and get ready so she could be there in time to meet her friend without holding her up.

Within twenty minutes, she applied her makeup and opted for her usual look but instead went with a bright vibrant pink lip. Once that was all done, she quickly threw everything into her bag that she needed for the day and tidied up the last few things around the house, before she was ready to leave and began her journey to the restaurant to meet Melissa.

Despite getting the texts from –A and feeling like someone was watching her yesterday, Carly felt at ease today as she strolled down the street heading for the centre of the town. A few people passed her and flashed her smiles which made her feel more comfortable about the situation. She was sticking to her promise of not letting –A get to her. She was way stronger than that.

* * *

Carly and Melissa sat at a two seater table just under half an hour later, they had already made their orders and both of the girls were occasionally taking sips out of the straws from their ice cold lemonades and making conversation, whilst they waited for their food order to turn up.

Just like when the two girls had been reunited last time, it was like they had never been apart because the conversation for them just seemed so easy. So far Carly had been asking Melissa all about London. Melissa had even suggested that Carly booked some time off work to come over to London for a week to stay with her, so they could properly hang out and go sightseeing in the city.

It sounded very appealing to Carly to go visit London since the only places she ever visited was always on the east side of the country and had not been on a proper vacation since she was younger. She definitely would be taking Melissa up on that idea when she had the chance to decide when to take some time off from the station.

"So you never told me about college, how was it? Did it meet your expectations?" Melissa asked her changing the subject.

"Yeah it was great; I loved every minute of it. I kind of actually miss it a little." Carly answered with a light laugh.

"I knew you would," Melissa smiled "Did you make any friends?"

"Uh yeah I shared a dorm room with three other girls and I met some other people, I mainly stay in contact with my friend, Brooke, she's like the sister I never had." Carly told her with a smile as she thought about how close she and Brooke were.

Melissa lowered her head slightly, feeling like that use to be how Carly use to feel about their friendship and how bad she felt that they could not continue that bond they had after what happened over that year. Part of her felt slightly replaced but she would never let Carly know about that.

"That's really sweet," Melissa nodded her head before a mischievous grin came on her face "So any of these friends happen to be males?"

"Uh a few of them," Carly laughed nervously as she kind of already guessed where this conversation was headed.

Why was everyone so interested in her love life and if she had been dating or had dated people in the past few years?

"Any of them happen to be romantic interests?" Melissa asked with a playful tone. She really wanted to find out if Carly had finally moved on.

"No actually." Carly shook her head as she began to play with the straw in her glass with her fingers.

"What?" Melissa exclaimed surprised as she leant up straighter in her seat. "So you're telling me you went three whole years of college without being with anyone?"

"I dated a few guys but nothing really happened," She told her trying to brush off the idea of her not wanting to be with anyone because she still had feelings for Jason back then "I was too busy focusing on my work to think about relationships."

"Aren't you always?" Melissa teased as she looked hard at her and knew what really was going on inside of her friends head then, as well as now.

She gathered that being back here brought up a lot of old feelings for Carly about Jason. She knew how heavily intoxicated her younger friend was with the guy and how hard it must be for her to be back here with all of that still out in the air unresolved from when she had left so abruptly.

"So since then you have been with no one else?" Melissa paused as Carly shook her head whilst biting on her bottom lip embarrassedly "Not even a date with anyone?"

Carly stopped shaking her head at the next question and rubbed her lips together nervously as she thought back to her date with Holbrook the other night "There was someone."

"Do tell." Melissa smirked not even aware that the date had been with detective Holbrook, the guy who had questioned her the same day Carly started her first shift at the station.

"You would probably freak out." Carly laughed unsure if she should mention him.

"Oh come in it can't be that bad." She tried to tell her but Carly could not help but feel nervous about telling her this.

It wasn't that she was uneasy about someone knowing that she had been on a date with detective Holbrook and that she did not want anyone to find out because they would start teasing her about it. She could deal with that.

It was the fact that she knew Melissa would not like the idea of her supposedly going on a date with Holbrook after she had questioned Melissa and Melissa had a lot of secrets of her own that she could not risk the police or someone like Holbrook finding out about. Also she would see Carly getting close to another detective extremely dangerous for her own secrets as well.

But all she could do was reassure her friend that they were far away from going on anymore dates or being in a relationship anytime soon. So she did not have to worry about everything what happened that year reaching Holbrook because Carly already had that covered.

"It's the detective I work with," Carly admitted with a dry tone "Detective Holbrook."

From being so excited to find out whom this lucky guy was to go on a date with Carly, Melissa's face fell incredibly and read an expression of total shock. She could not believe that it had to be him of all people within this town. Carly sure knew how to pick them.

"Wow." Melissa exhaled as the waiter came over to bring them their food which consisted on a chicken caeser salad for Carly and a pasta salad for Melissa.

After a few minutes of silence had fell over them and both of them tucking into their salads, Melissa finally spoke up after her sudden loss of her words and Carly's uncertainty of how to handle the situation "I'm shocked."

"I know you would be but trust me, no one is going to find out about what happened including Holbrook. I have already made sure of that." Carly reassured her as she placed her folk back into her salad bowl.

"I hope you're right," Melissa sighed as she tucked into her own food. "If this wasn't enough to deal with I have got my Dad staying at my place in Philly whilst my mom and Spencer are at the house."

"Why isn't he staying with them?" Carly asked confused about the Hastings set up.

"Because Spencer and my mom don't trust the two of us," Melissa answered her truthfully with a sad expression. "It's the reason why I am back in town to try to talk to mom and make her see sense."

Carly who was still puzzled by all of this looked around in the area they were sat in the restaurant and noticed that everyone around them was either busy talking or eating their food to notice them so instead leant forward and spoke up in a hushed tone "Do they still not know about the 'thing'?"

"Of course they don't." Melissa hissed quietly which caused Carly to pull away surprised.

Melissa knew exactly what Carly was referring to when she said 'the thing. It had been something that Carly had minimal knowledge about because she had not been around that night when it had occurred and she was pretty much glad she wasn't because then she would be more involved with it way more than she actually was. Just by knowing Melissa's biggest secret was enough for Carly to have dealt with at the time and keep to herself for the past three years.

She completely understood why Melissa had only told her father what had happened that night, but she could not help but a bit surprised that despite everything what had gone on the past few years, Spencer and her mom, Veronica were still out of the picture.

"Carly there is something I've been meaning to ask you," Melissa informed her breaking her out of her thoughts and a worried expression to crease on her face as to what the hell she wanted to ask, if it was about Jason then Carly wasn't sure she wanted to answer it. "Spencer told me about the text's you got from Alison."

"Yeah Spencer is going to have to try do a little bit better in explaining the message across to Alison because she did not buy it." Carly grumbled in annoyance at the reminder of the text messages she had received.

"Are you sure it's even Alison sending you those messages?" She asked with a concerned look on her face as Carly frowned back at her friend from across the table.

By the look on Melissa's face, Carly knew that something was definitely up and that Melissa was implying that maybe those messages Carly had thought were from Alison, may have not been sent from Alison and instead somebody else that Melissa might have known about.

Carly felt her heart begin to pound in her chest "What are you suggesting?"

"I'm not saying you're wrong Carly. I get why you would think its Alison and I'm not defending her because you know what I think about her, especially with her coming back to town," Melissa began which made Carly rethink who could have sent her the messages "But from what Spencer told me, I just don't think she would go about it like that."

"I agree," Carly nodded laying her fork down on top of the salad bowl, suddenly losing her appetite because of all of this talk about the –A texts "I thought it was a little strange for her to do it anonymously, when before she use to say things to my face without having to hide her identity."

"What did the texts say?" Melissa asked her friend, the growing concern she had was something she could not ignore "if you don't mind me asking."

"Just stuff about my past," Carly confessed as she stared hard at the table "I haven't had many, just two, but they're enough to feel threatened."

"About Jason?"

Carly's attention shot up immediately at the mention of his name and she could not help but feel her chest tighten at the reminder of him. Melissa gave her friend a faint smile knowing what the answer to her question was already just by how Carly had reacted to the conversation. She just wished Carly never got involved with her half-brother because it would have saved her years of pain.

"I can see now why you would think the texts are from her and I'm not ruling Alison out of wanting to provoke you," Melissa explained "But whoever the hell is sending you these texts are dangerous. I don't want to scare you but just be careful Carly."

Carly swallowed harshly after hearing her friends concerns and she could not help but feel her anxiety grow more about receiving another message from this –A person. She felt more puzzled as to who it could have been now, since Melissa sounded like she wasn't so sure Alison would do something behind closed doors, when she would rather do it up front and in the open.

It left Carly wanting to know more answers about this and how Melissa seemed so knowledgeable about who was supposedly sending Carly these texts. It sounded like she was talking from experience and part of her felt at least a bit secure knowing that maybe Melissa had been through the same.

Before she could have the chance to question her further, Melissa's phone went off and she quickly pulled it out of her purse before reading it "That's my mom. She wants to see me to talk. I'm so sorry for ditching lunch." Melissa informed Carly as she looked across at her.

"Of course go," Carly reassured her with a faint smile. She would have to get her answers some other way. "It's fine."

"Thank you Carly. It was great seeing you again," Melissa told her as she got out some money to pay for her part of the bill "If you ever need a friend to talk about what happened that year and those ridiculous texts, then I'm all ears."

"You too, Mel," Carly replied "I hope you're parents figure things out."

"Yeah I hope so," Melissa nodded with a forced smile as she got up from her seat at the table "It would probably solve a lot if I was just honest about that night."

"I agree," Carly said in a quiet tone as her eyes flashed to the floor "But I'm scared my secrets will come out too."

"They won't," Melissa reassured her as she wondered round to Carly's side of the table "You're way stronger than whoever is sending you those texts."

"I hope you're right." Carly responded as Melissa laid her hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze, before bidding her younger friend goodbye and heading out of the restaurant to go home.

This left Carly nothing left to do than get her own money out of her purse and lay it on top of Melissa's pile. A large sigh escaped her lips as she ran her fingers across her face and stopped up from her seat to leave the table, which still had their unfinished food and drink on. If she hadn't of lost her appetite so much after their conversation, she would have probably finished off the salad before she left.

But she really could not stomach anything after that -A conversation. She felt like she was back to square one with working out whom it could have been. Maybe she should have not been so quick to jump gun and presume it was Alison sending those texts. She did not want to rule her out because she was one of the people that detested Carly the most in this town. It would make sense that it would be her because –A for Alison, she hated seeing her with Jason and they were both back in town the same time.

But if it wasn't Alison, then who else would want to aggravate Carly so much and try to get her out of town for good this time?

* * *

 **Author note: Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this part, as well as looking forward to future parts.**

 **I was so surprised at how many of you actually continued to read this and still enjoy it as I was worried that no one was reading because of the lack of Jason. As I keep saying though he is coming back! Very very very very soon!**

 **Special thanks to the following for either favouriting, following or reviewing; ClanaFan01, RHatch89, stephaniesnapemalfoy, redvelvetlover13, LiLuLo12, HOAfan8509, Guest and annalouise92.**

 **If you guys want me to upload twice a week instead of one then feel free to let me know! Also share your thoughts on this part and how you think the story is going, I love to read what you guys think.**

 **Many thanks,**

 **xx**


	17. Over Him

**Over him:**

It had not been easy for her to forget about the conversation that she and Melissa had on their cut short lunch date. She had spent the rest of that day trying to block out all the worried thoughts she had circling around in her head. The best way for her to get over something so concerning for her was to delete the message she had got from the blocked number, switch off her phone for the rest of the day and head over to her Dad's where she could just relax with him.

Spending time with her Dad had been resulting for her in order to block out the thoughts she was having. He had made them some dinner and they had a really good catch up. It was nice for her to just sit down and talk to him properly without anyone else around or them falling into some argument like they had been doing a lot recently.

Although when Carly had returned back to her apartment that same evening, the concerned thoughts returned shortly after due to being alone and she just felt so exhausted to have all of this toying on her mind. The next steps for her to take were climb into bed and sleep away the feelings she was having.

Despite what was going on in her head, she had managed to sleep through the whole night without a fault. She had woken up just a few hours before she was due at work, which meant she had enough time to get a few bites done and get ready for the day ahead.

The first thing she decided to do that morning was go for a jog since she had not been on one in so long due to moving back home and being so busy. She thought it would be a great idea to help clear her head and refresh her from the worries she was having.

When she was living back in New York she had been a gym attendee and basically visited the gym at least a few times a week before or after classes to help with her wellbeing, as well as to maintain a fit and healthy lifestyle. Although living back in Rosewood meant that she could not long attend the gym she had spent her years at college at, instead she decided that because of her busy schedule with work, she would much rather find some other ways to exercise.

That morning had been her first time and she was really struggling to catch her breath, but in all honestly it really helped her to think clearer and shake off the anxiety she had been feeling the past twenty four hours. Now she had been able to relax her mind, work seemed a lot easier for her to tackle that day and she knew that she could improve her work standards after letting what was on her mind go away.

The jog consisted of a half an hour run round the area she lived in the outskirts of the main centre of the town. Thankfully she had not ran into anyone she knew because she was looking a little worse for wear that morning in a sports bra, a tank top, work out pants and some running shoes, her unwashed hair scraped up in a messy bun on the top of her head, a un-makeup filled face and looking like a dog panting in the hot blazing heat due to her active levels being low in the past few weeks.

Once she had gotten back from her exercise, she took a shower, had some breakfast, straightened her hair and applied her usual makeup, before she got herself changed into the work outfit she had decided to wear for the day which included some black high waisted skinny jeans, a white plain long sleeved shirt with collar, a black sleeveless blazer jacket and some white court heels. She paired the usual bag she took for work with the outfit, as well as a rose gold watch with white leather strap.

She was out of the door with fifteen minutes to go until her shift officially started, therefore she decided to walk today instead of taking her car because she had the time and felt another bit of exercise would not hurt to get her back up to date. Walking also helped to distress her mind and help her focused on the job at hand, rather than what drama was going on in her life. She had definitely decided the past was keeping the past for the time being.

As Carly crossed over the road, her eyes drew over to two women chatting on the pavement outside Rosewood High School and she found a smile forming on her lips when she saw who the two actually were. She could use seeing a friendly and familiar face that morning to give her that extra boost of positivity.

"Carly!" Ella Montgomery beamed as she turned fully away from her daughter, Aria and took in a full view of the woman approaching her.

"Ella." Carly greeted back in the same excited tone as Ella wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into a friendly hug.

Hugging her back, Carly's smile grew and her eyes flashed over to Aria for a second, giving her a small nod in her direction, knowing that last time she had seen the teenager, things had been more than awkward to say the least. But she was willing to brush that aside and forget it, if Aria was wishing to do the same.

"Wow," Ella said as she broke the hug between the two but kept hold of Carly's arms as she looked up and down her body, before looking up at her face in amazement "You've grown up so much since I last saw you, you're making me feel old, you look gorgeous."

Carly laughed lightly under her breath at Ella's words and began to shake her head in disagreement, she did not think that Ella was old nor was Carly gorgeous in anyway. She should have seen her this morning on her jog.

"Don't be silly," Carly waved her hand in the air to brush off the comment as Ella let go of her arms "You're still young, don't worry about it and thank you."

"Always so lovely this one," Ella laughed as looked over at Aria and back to Carly "Aria told me you were back and I had just been hoping to run into you."

"Yeah I got back a few weeks ago now." She informed her.

"I'm glad you're back because I've been meaning to ask you if you would like to come to a party…." Ella slowly lifted up her hand for Carly to see and Carly's eyes widened when she saw the shiny silver engagement ring sitting on Ella's finger.

"Oh my god," Carly gasped as she took hold of Ella's hand to get a closer look to it and then back at her "Congratulations!"

"Thank you," Ella laughed at Carly's excited reaction, Carly really was pleased for the woman after what her Dad had told her about what she had been through since she had been away with finding out her ex-husband had cheated on her with one of his students. She was happy Ella was able to find love again and was super happy because "So what do you say? Do you want to come to my engagement party?"

Carly tried to fight off every urge in her body telling her not go because she would be around alcohol again and in a party environment for the first time in years. But she knew that this was a family party and she could control herself, she had the abilities to cope with situations like this and knew that she could not miss out on Ella's engagement party.

"I'd love to." She told her a nod.

"Great, I have invited your Dad too, he should know all the details so check with him," Ella explained to her "but I wasn't sure if he could come because of his work, but get him to email me back if he can come, I'd love if you both were there."

"Of course, I'll speak to him about it."

"Great," Ella smiled as she turned to face Aria as well. "I would love to stay and chat but I have places to be. I'll see you this afternoon at the Bridal shop Aria and I'll hopefully see you at the party."

"Definitely." Carly answered adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder as she watched the mother and daughter bid each other goodbye.

"Don't be late." Ella told Aria before she walked away and out of sight of the two girls.

An awkward silence fell over the two as they both turned to face each other after seeing Ella go off into the distance. Aria happened to be the first one to break the silence "Hi."

"Hi." Carly repeated.

"Listen I want to thank you again for the other night back at Ezra's. I didn't expect someone in your position to do that but thank you for not telling Tanner." Aria told her with a hopeful tone in her voice that Carly would be accepting.

Carly shook her head with a smile playing on her lips "Don't worry about it. It's completely covered."

"Thank you though. You didn't have to do that..."

"No I wanted to." Carly interjected as Aria exhaled in relief and flashed a warm smile at the woman in front of her. "Look I should probably get to work and you should head back inside."

"Yeah ok, so I guess I'll see you at the party." Aria concluded.

"See you then." Carly nodded before turning on her heel and continuing her journey to work like she had originally planned before she bumped into the two Montgomery women.

As she walked away, she could not help but feel glad that Aria appreciated what Carly had done for her at the apartment that night with Tanner. She felt like she still meant a lot to Aria, as well as Ella especially when she was inviting her to her engagement party even though they had not spoken in years. This reassured her that even though things had changed in this town and the people Carly once knew, Carly still had Aria's back and Aria respected that, so maybe just maybe she still was like a big sister to her like she had always been.

All she had to figure out now was how she was going to get over this –A person for good, as well as make sure she did not crumble at this party. Two things she was pretty determined to do since she had already been working hard to get rid of her past, including Jason, which she had been hesitant about the past couple of days. She still needed that extra push to get over him.

* * *

When Carly arrived at work that day, she began to get started on the tasks she had to do what had been left from Tanner. Since Tanner was busy out of the station most of the day interviewing the likes of Alison, it meant Carly had to carry out the main admin tasks instead of accompanying her like she had been the past couple of shifts. The tasks were beginning to pile up on her regarding the case because of her absence from the station on investigation and her day off yesterday.

A day in the office was on the cards for Carly and she planned to get up to do date with everything by the end of her shift later that day, so she could leave the station without having other tasks left to do to finish at home or add to her do list for the next day. Even though she did not mind working in the office, part of her already missed the investigating sides of the job and hoped that Tanner would want her to accompany her on more at a later date.

Or maybe she wouldn't after what happened the last few times they had been out of the station together, Tanner had not been very impressed to say the least and the only way Carly was going to change that was if she worked her ass off to prove to Tanner just how serious she was.

Carly had spent the first three hours of her shift writing up reports, printing them out and handing them to Tanner's secretary for future reference. Also she had been filing away any new evidence or reports Tanner or Holbrook had put together over the past few days regarding the Alison DiLaurentis case.

Instead of catching up to date with every single detail, she decided to not read too much into what was going on with the cases since she did not want to even think about Alison right now after the possibilities of her being –A and having to read information that could pin the different crimes within the case, on some of the people she knew quite well was not her idea of 'fun' right now.

She had just then filed away a few documents and was making her way back over to her desk when the office door swung open to reveal detective Holbrook carrying two paper bags and two drinks in his hands from The Brew. Carly couldn't help but smile when she saw the refreshments in his hands and could not wait to eat since she had not had her break yet.

"One cheese sandwich and a latte for the lady." Holbrook told her as she wondered over to take her food and drink order from his grasp.

"You're such a star." Carly replied before taking the order from him and holding it in her own hands.

Once he handed over her order, he placed the paper bag with his food inside down on the table beside him and took a sip out of his steaming coffee as he looked over the top of it at her.

"You don't have to give me any money for this, you know?" Holbrook said with a hint of playfulness in his tone and Carly knew exactly what he was getting at.

"Here we go again," Carly groaned jokingly as she spun round on her heels and took a seat down at her desk chair "Always having to be the gentleman aren't you detective Holbrook?"

"Well I can't help myself when I am around you." Holbrook smirked as he copied her actions and sat at his own chair, his eyes still not leaving hers and to be honest Carly had become use to it.

Carly could not help but let a light laugh escape her lips as she un-wrapped the paper bag and pulled out the sandwich "Seriously though, I owe you one for this."

"No you don't Miss Monroe," Holbrook objected "It's only a sandwich."

"A sandwich you paid for in which I owe you money for now."

"As I have said before it is completely fine."

"But it's basically like stealing your money," Carly began with a smirk "I could get arrested for that."

"Well good job I'm an officer then because I can do exactly that." Holbrook grinned as Carly chuckled.

Something inside of her just could not bite back the flirtatious side within her which was just itching its way to come out. Deep down past the emotionally and damaged side of her that she liked to keep hidden as much as possible, there was that girl who was looking for love and didn't mind being flirty from time to time.

She had been thinking lately about how much she had honestly missed the whole relationship side of life, even if she would not admit that directly to her Dad, Brooke or Melissa. But maybe she wanted to explore that part of her life more because she had never had any real relationships; I mean could you even class whatever she had with Jason a serious relationship?

Maybe Holbrook was going to be the one to change that for her. He had been nothing but caring and kind towards her despite their few hiccups in between such as digging into her past. But she still had such a huge hill to climb to get over Jason. She had considered Holbrook the way to go about doing that.

"Keep it PG Holbrook," she teased the smirk on her lips getting bigger "Save it for after hour's maybe."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Holbrook lied as he bit into his sandwich trying to ignore the humour wanting to come out inside of him.

"Of course you don't." Carly replied sarcastically as she also began to tuck into her sandwich and tried to hide her laughter.

They both ate their lunches in nothing more than a comfortable silence with the occasionally looks across the desks and smirks from here and there. When they had both finished eating, they got back to their work which for Carly was more filing and today it just seemed never ending. On the other hand, Holbrook was busy working on continuing to build on the case which meant he was sat at his desk with the case file upon trying to piece bits together and by the look on his face; Carly knew he was struggling to come to terms with the mess.

As she had just closed up one of the filing cabinets, she spun round on her feet to look at him and felt a small sigh come out of her lips. She wanted to ask Holbrook something but felt like she was too worried how he would react. She knew that the way he was coming across to her it would be more of a positive outcome but she was scared she was not ready or that she would regret it instantly.

But if she never did it, how would she ever know how it would go or how she would feel after?

"Gabe?" She called quickly gaining his attention as she leant back in his chair and looked over at her "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Holbrook replied as he patted the seat beside him on the desk and motioned her to come over to join him.

Biting on her bottom lip, she slowly wondered over to him and took a seat down on the chair he had instructed her to do so. At first she was quiet, unable to form words or even thinks if this was what she actually wanted. She had always been a one to try new things and give it a go but the thought of bringing up what she was going to was making her nervous. She had not felt this way about asking someone out in a very long time.

Maybe she would have regrets about this. Maybe it was the wrong move. Maybe it was too soon. But she could not help but want to try. Jason had been gone for over a week now. It was obvious he had moved on. If she did not try to move on now, then when was she ever going to let herself free?

"Would you like to come have dinner at my place tonight say around 8? We can also watch a movie or something?" Carly finally asked him with a soft tone.

If he wasn't already smiling big enough, his lips twitched up into a charming grin and he looked away from her for a moment "I'd love to, Miss Monroe."

"Great. I'll text you my address." She returned the smile.

He nodded back at her, somewhat speechless as she climbed back up from the seat and went back over to her desk to check out what other tasks she had left to do. Her stomach was slightly churning at the thought of tonight but she could not help but feel good that she had made the first step. If this was the next step of getting over Jason, then so be it because it was long overdue and she was pretty convinced that he wanted nothing to do with her since he had not returned to Rosewood.

It was best for the both of them if they moved on, Jason probably already had and now it was her turn.

* * *

Carly watched the second hand of the clock on her kitchen wall tick round as she sat on her couch, her fingers drumming impatiently on the side of it and teeth chewing nervously on the bottom of her lip. She did not understand why she happened to be so nervous this time round compared to her first date with Holbrook at the restaurant.

Maybe it was because he was coming round her apartment, seeing her personal space, the possibility of trying to question her about her past, the idea of getting over Jason completely scared her just that little bit because was she really ready to let go of him?

If you had asked her that question a year or so ago, she would have probably said yes. But being back in Rosewood and seeing him that day, spending the night with him and him giving her his number, made all those old feelings come back to her and she wasn't so sure anymore.

She really hoped that her date with Holbrook tonight went well so that she could just forget about Jason. So she could move on and be happy without having to think about him. Maybe Holbrook could be the one to change that for her.

The sound of the loud knock at the door broke her out of her thoughts, her eyes darting over to the door and her legs slowly getting up from the seating area to go get the door. Her heart was thumping in her chest and she had to take a deep breathe before she even grabbed hold of the handle to pull it open.

Slowly she pressed down on the handle and pulled open the door to reveal Holbrook who was already grinning from ear to ear with his charming smile. Unlike the attire she usually saw him dressed in, it was a lot more casual, consisting of some dark wash slim fit jeans, a long sleeved dark t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up and button detailing at the top, a pair of brogue style shoes on his feet.

Even Carly had opted for a casual look which consisted of a pair of light wash high waisted skinny jeans and a ribbed funnel neck crop top with short sleeves. She looked pretty basic to say the least, but she hoped that the way she did look was good enough to keep Holbrook slightly interested in being with her for the evening.

"Hey, come in." She welcomed him as she pulled upon the door wider and ushered her inside her place.

He silently stepped inside her apartment and his eyes glazed along the room, taking it all in before he turned to look at her as she shut the door behind them. "So would you like something to drink? I've got tea, coffee, water, soda, juice?" She asked him stepping into the kitchen area and avoiding his look on her. It would only make her more nervous.

"Uh I'll have some water please." Holbrook told her as he stood awkwardly in the middle of the room.

"Sparkling or still?"

"Sparkling would be great thanks."

Nodding at his choice, she opened up the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of sparkling water. "Please sit down, make yourself comfortable." She told him as she took out a glass from one of the cabinets and poured the liquid into it.

When she had spun back round with his drink in her hand, he had sat himself down on the side of the couch that Carly had originally been seated in. When their eyes met, she flashed a small smile in his direction before going over to join him.

She laid the refreshment down onto the coffee table in front of them before sitting at the other end of the couch, feeling like she had somewhat been in this position a number of times over the past few weeks but had been past faces instead such as Melissa and Jason.

Shaking her head at the reminder of her past again, something she was planning on getting over tonight, she turned to face him properly "I didn't know what to cook for you, so I thought maybe we could get a take out?"

"Yeah that sound's great. I'm already getting hungry."

"Awesome," Carly laughed as she grabbed her phone off the table and began to get a few takeaway numbers up to make a call. "What do you want?"

"Anything what's your favourite?" He asked her with a side smile.

"Pizza." Carly answered proudly and with no hesitation.

"Then that is what we shall have."

"Ok deal." Carly laughed as she got up the number for the local pizza take away that she always use to order pizza from when she was a teenager. They always made the best pizzas.

Once she had ordered them a pizza each, she placed her phone back down on the coffee table and turned to look at Holbrook, who 'surprise surprise' was already looking at her intriguingly.

"What?" Carly questioned with a laugh as she tucked a strand of fallen hair behind her ear.

"Nothing?" Holbrook answered as he leant over and took hold of his drink "Just looking at you."

"I can see that." She laughed more and shook her head amused "But why?"

"It's because you're stunning." He informed her which caused the heat to rise to her cheeks slightly at his compliment.

She never knew how to react to compliments like that, especially when Gabe had done this a couple of times already.

Rubbing her lips together nervously, she flashed him a small smile before turning her head away slightly and looking over at her shelves which had all of her DVD's and CD's on it. "So what movie do you want to watch?" Carly asked trying to get over the compliment he had given her.

"Anything except chick flicks I do not like those." Holbrook said as he took a sip out of his drink.

"That's completely fine," Carly told him as she climbed up from her seat and went over to the shelf to look "I'm more of an action girl myself actually; you have to be when you want a job in the law enforcement."

"That's very true." Holbrook chuckled as he laid his drink back down and got up from his seat to stand behind her.

When she felt his body behind hers, her chest tightened a little at the proximity between the pair of them and she only then realised that she had not been this close to a male since Jason the other week, which ended in her having sex with him because she could not control herself and her inner teenager was creeping its way out.

"Uh-uh-so what do you want to watch?" She asked nervously as she tried to ignore the fact she could basically feel his breath on her neck, and smell his cologne and scent.

"This looks good." He suggested as he pulled out one of the DVDs from the shelf and held it in his hands, only inches away from where she was stood in front of him.

Carly's eyes rolled down to the DVD in his hand and nodded her head, unable to even speak again; she never had been like this around a guy before. Not even Jason. She felt like some school girl who had a crush on some guy.

"Yeah that's a good movie," Carly added a little more confidently this time "We should watch that."

Taking the DVD from his hands, she stepped away from him and over to the DVD player that was under her TV on the unit. She was glad she had decided to walk away rather than stay there and act like an uneasy mess. This was not supposed to go like this. She was supposed to be confident and in control. Not have Holbrook have her round his little finger and making her feel the way she was.

When Holbrook realised she had moved away so abruptly, he could not help but smirk and walk back over to take his seat on the couch. Once Carly had set up the DVD, she came back over to join him on the couch with the remote in her hands, ready to play the movie they had decided to watch.

She really hoped that she would be able to gain composure and to stop acting the way she was. If this was how getting over Jason felt, then she wasn't so sure she wanted it to be like this but if it was the only way then so be it. Holbrook would be good for her.

* * *

During the movie it was surprisingly a comfortable silence every so often, they would spark up conversation throughout regarding the movie or some other question they had for each other concerning work, life in general or different normal topics, even when the pizza had arrived and they tucked into their food, they had kept the conversation flowing steady.

Carly had even managed to begin to enjoy herself and wasn't feeling as bad as when he had first arrived. The uncomfortable and nervous side of her was replaced with a playful and easy going side that she had not seen in herself for some time. It felt good to be able to just let things flow naturally without having to plan everything to stay in control.

It had been ten minutes since the movie had finished; they were both sat on the same spots on the couch but a little closer this time with their drinks in their hands, a conversation flowing nicely between the pair.

"How did you find out about the job in Rosewood then? I had not seen it advertised until Tanner told me about the arrangement." Holbrook asked her with interested eyes.

"It wasn't," She informed him with a sly smile "basically ever since I was a child as you know, I wanted to become a detective for Rosewood so this was always somewhere I was going to work my ass off to get into whatever the odds. When I had started my first year at college, my Dad handed in my personal statement and résumé to the station for future positions. He did it every single year and when my college began getting in touch with possible stations, I guess you could call it my 'internship'; I made sure that Rosewood was number one on the list. I got an email from Tanner's assistant a few months back actually saying that she wanted to meet me. So we met, I had a couple of interviews and the rest is where we are today."

"You're very lucky." He told her with a sincere smile.

"I know my friend Brooke from college is still looking for a position but she has not found anything yet." Carly told him with a sad expression.

"What is she interested in?"

"Law," She answered "She wants to mainly be a family lawyer."

"Has she looked at Rosewood?"

"I don't know," Carly laughed slightly "I keep hinting to her that she should come here, look for jobs and come stay with me but so far I don't think it's possible."

"Why not?"

"She grew up in New York, so a life in another state is not really an option for her." Carly explained as she shook the liquid in her drink around.

"Like you in Rosewood?"

"I guess so." She smirked back at him before rubbing her lips together and he returned the gesture.

"I don't see what's wrong with this place though, she would love to come stay at your apartment, it's really nice," Holbrook complimented as he glanced around at the room they were in "If you don't mind me asking, how did you afford such a place?"

"I guess I got lucky again," Carly shrugged with a playful smile "My Dad went half with me on the savings I had left over."

"That's very kind of him."

"I know," She laughed lightly as she fell silent again with a smile playing on her lips and she stared at the liquid in her glass "My Dad's my rock really. He's helped me out so much the past few years, I don't know what I would do without him, like he's really the best dad anyone could have, me for sure when he helped me out of my mess….."

Carly felt her jaw slam shut quickly at the realisation of what she had just said. Her heart began to pound in her chest and her stomach dropped instantly. She could not believe she had just basically let slip about her past without even realising it. She had got so comfortable with talking to Holbrook that she had just opened up to him about the one thing she was trying her best to keep covered.

An awkward silence fell on the pair of them, Carly could not even bring herself to look back at Holbrook due to his lingering stare on her, only this time it wasn't the usual gaze he did, and instead it was a long and hard one that showed confusion. She could only imagine how many questions must have been fluttering around his head.

Slowly she reached over and placed her drink on the glass coffee table, her eyes still avoiding his and she just wanted the ground to swallow her up right now. Why did she just have to make everything so awkward for herself?

Holbrook placed his own drink down beside hers on the table and turned his body more round to face her. "Carly," He said in a soft tone as he scooted closer to her "Do you have a bad past with alcohol?"

Hearing his question, she gradually twisted her head to look at him, a large lump forming in her throat as she did so, the anxiety she was feeling never leaving her. "Why do you ask that?" She asked him unsure of how she even let herself be honest with him. It could change everything.

"I don't know," he shrugged in a dry tone "I guess just things I have picked up on, like how you react when I bring up the past, how uneasy you were around alcohol that night at the restaurant and now what you have just basically told me."

Exhaling loudly, she ran her fingers through her hair and flung back onto the sofa in a huff "I don't know what to say to that."

"You don't have to tell me anything," Holbrook reassured her as he came even closer "I understand."

Looking at him in the eyes, she could honestly tell that this guy was not buffing and that she could somewhat trust him. She did not have to tell him every single detail about her past but enough for him to get off her back about her past would be a good idea to go by. Plus if they ever stood a chance of getting to the relationship stage, then it was best if she was somewhat honest now.

"No you should know," She breathed somewhat shakily "I have bad experiences around alcohol yes but that's not even a problem anymore. The past is in the past. That's why I act so weird about it because I would rather it wasn't in my present or future."

"No I agree with you," Holbrook told her with a small smile as he laid his hand down on her knee and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You don't have to tell me the full story."

Feeling his touch, her eyes darted down to his large hand on her much smaller knee, her heart beat increasing once again. "Thank you for understanding."

"You're so welcome," Holbrook replied with a smile which made Carly also smile back "I think you're pretty incredible if I'm honest."

Carly couldn't help but shake her head in disagreement but kept the same smile playing on her lips "Why do you think that?"

"Because it's clear you've been through a lot and still you remain strong, brave, positive," He explained and not once did he remove his hand from her knee "Some people struggle to keep so optimistic when they've been through tough times."

"You have to be." She shrugged like it was no big deal even if sometimes it was. She tried so hard to not let things get to her so easy because if not it was like they won and she did not want that to happen.

"Well I admire you for it." He told her removing his hand from her knee and leaning his body back on the couch just like she was; only now he was just inches away from her and her face.

Carly could feel his breath tickling the side of her face and as she turned her head to look at him more, she only then realised just how close the two of them had actually got to one another. She wasn't so sure if she liked the closeness between them but it somehow made her feel safe, like she it was ok to just relax and let her guard down, even if it was only a small percentage of it that Holbrook was seeing.

Letting out a light sigh, she shrugged further down on the couch until her head was low enough to rest on his shoulder in which she slowly laid the side of her head down against it. When he felt her against him, he realised this was his cue and he wrapped his arm over her back before gently pulling her into him.

"Thank you." Carly said softly as she relaxed into him. It actually felt good for someone to just hold her. She was proud of herself for allowing herself to just ease into the whole possible romance side of things again. She had not been held like that in such a long time, since Jason. But there she was again, thinking about him, she really had to stop.

"You're welcome." He muttered before he grazed his lips over the top of her forehead where her hair line began and pecked it lightly.

After feeling his lip on her, she rolled her eyes upwards and shifted her body up slightly to get a better look at him. Part of her should not have been surprised to see him looking down at her the way he was. His eyes immediately flickered down to hers when he noticed she was looking at him. He couldn't help but let them roll down to her lips, which were slightly parted and small breaths were exhaling out of them.

When Carly had noticed this, her breathing picked up a little and her heart began to thump dangerously in her chest. She was not expecting Holbrook and her to be in this position tonight after how up and down they had been the last few days.

But for Carly, she was so sure that this would be the perfect way to get over Jason and start something fresh, new and exciting that her Dad would be proud of her for. A relationship with Holbrook was not completely out of the question. She did feel an attraction there to him and he was a nice enough guy, so it wasn't like she would have to force anything?

There was still a long way to go to get over Jason and for her to see Holbrook completely in a relationship type of way. But for now, a distraction of some form to get her to stop thinking about her past sounded so good to her, especially after the –A texts recently what had just sparked up old feelings and memories.

The feeling of a warm and soft pair of lips pressed against her own, snapped her out of her thoughts and she found herself freezing slightly when she grasped that Holbrook had moved in for the kiss, completely breaking the tension and the ice between them whilst she had been too damn busy daydreaming.

At first she didn't know what to do because she was unsure if they should even overcome this boundary yet, since he was basically her boss and they shared an office down at the station together. This could cause so much awkwardness for the both of them when they were next back at work.

And on the other hand, she couldn't help but ignore that because right now his lips on her own didn't feel too bad. Instead of letting the voice inside of her which was telling her to push him away and tell him no, she allowed herself to melt into the kiss and began to kiss him back in the same way he was kissing her.

He was actually a good kisser to be honest. She had not kissed that many guys before. A few here and there. But he was definitely one of the best she had been with since he had probably had years of practice with his charming ways. What girl couldn't resist the charm sometimes?

As they both got into the kiss more, Holbrook laid his large hand on the side of her face and brought her closer to him. Carly's hands found the sides of his body and she rested them there whilst she began to enjoy the way their lips felt on one another's.

The kiss heated up more as the time past, both of them were trying to keep up with one another and it wasn't long before Holbrook decided to step things up a little due to the growing bulge within his trousers. Carly was also feeling a little flustered and was unsure of where this was heading but could even stop herself when it felt so good and she had not had this much attention from a guy in years, even though she had dated they had never lived up to this standard.

Trailing his hands down from her cheek to her shoulders, smoothly down her arms and to her waist, Holbrook gently pushed her slowly down onto the couch so she was laying down on her back, their lips never detaching as he positioned himself in between her. Carly could already tell where this was probably heading but she wasn't even doing anything to stop herself. This was a side of herself she had not seen in years and it scared her a little.

After a few seconds, Holbrook detached their lips from one another and brushed a few strands of Carly's hair away from her neck. She watched him as he quickly moved his head towards her neck and began to press light kisses down it.

Her neck arched a little which allowed him access to more of her the touch of his lips on her skin could only make her flashback to when she was in a similar position just over a week ago with Jason. Instead this was on her bed, in her underwear, with him towering over her and kissing her where he knew she liked it, it was about passion, old feelings and a goodbye they never had. It was so real and obviously still so patent in Carly's head that every time Holbrook planted a kiss on her, she thought back to Jason.

She thought back to that night when he had turned up at her apartment, when he had moved in for a kiss, their first kiss in years, the way he had hoisted up onto the work station to kiss her more, his touch on her skin, how gentle and soft he was with her, the passion and intensity that they both shared with one another, it was all hitting her so hard and fast that she couldn't concentrate with what was happening between her and Holbrook.

Everything like it always happened to end up, was somehow leaving her with thoughts of Jason and the flashback to that night. Every time Holbrook touched her, she compared the way he felt to Jason. She was finding it hard to breathe as the waves of anxiety came over her making her want to get out of this situation as fast as possible. This needed to stop.

Just as Holbrook pulled away ever so slightly and was about to lean in again, Carly quickly threw her hands up to his chest and pushed him away from her slightly.

"Stop," She shouted at him with an angrier tone than intended "Stop."

When Holbrook noticed the sudden change in her behaviour and the look of horror on her face, he leant up from his towering position over her and kneeled up straight on the couch "What's up?"

"This was a mistake. We need to stop," Carly rambled her breathing uneasy as she leant on her elbows to prop herself up "You should go."

"Did I do something wrong?" He asked his eyebrows furrowing together in confusion.

"No I just need you to go." She demanded as she swung her legs away from him and got up from the couch in distress.

Holbrook slowly climbed off the couch; his eyes never leaving hers as he watched her turn away from him, her fingers over her nose now like she was trying to catch a breath and all Holbrook could feel bad that he had done something wrong. Maybe he had moved way too fast? But he was getting signals that this is what she wanted.

Without muttering another word, Holbrook wondered over to the door and opened it up. Before he pulled it open, he gave one last look over his shoulder in Carly's direction and let out a sigh when he realised the state she was in, before exciting the apartment with a slam of the door.

Once she heard the door close, she let out the large breath she had been holding in and spun round on her heel with tears pricking her eyes. She should have known it was going to work out this way. Why did she ever think that ignoring her feelings and jumping straight to Holbrook would change the way she really felt?

She felt so stupid and embarrassed about what the hell just happened with her boss. She knew that it was going to be even more awkward now in the office, especially when Tanner was already suspecting that something was going on between the two. How was she going to explain to Holbrook what the hell just happened?

Even though she had confessed she had a past with alcohol in minor detail, she could not exactly admit that the reason why she had pushed him away and told him to go home was because what they were doing reminded her of Jason, the same Jason who was the brother of Alison, the one who's case they were working on together.

It would leave way to many questions that Carly was so not ready to answer just yet. But one question that she was pretty much convinced she knew the answer to.

She wasn't over Jason and she was pretty sure she was never going to be.

* * *

 **Author note: aahhh please don't hate me! Carly and Holbrook isn't for definite and I'm serious when I say Jason is definitely coming back soon! If you want an actual time frame, then within the next two parts he is going to be officially in it properly! Please keep faith in me hahaha!**

 **Anyway thanks for everyone who has reviewed, favourited, followed since the last part; RHatch89, katierosanne, LiLuLo12 and Lady Syndra. I really appreciate it and love to hear your thoughts.** **I have decided to update twice a week and see how it goes. Every Sunday and Wednesday from now on. I will try to keep to a schedule and hopefully will be able to continue writing so I have parts ready to upload.**

 **Let me know in a review what you thought about this part and where you think this story is headed. I hope you're just as excited as me to see Jason return.**

 **Thanks so much again xx**


	18. The Tape

**The Tape:**

"Hey Dad." Carly greeted the following morning as she wrapped her arms round his middle for an embrace, a small warm smile forming on her lips as she did so.

After the events of last night, Carly had tidied up her apartment, climbed into a bed and instead of watching an action she alternatively went for a rom-com, completely going against what she had said to Holbrook that night. She needed the pick up after the night she had with him. She needed that slight glimmer of hope she would find romance again and would be able to get over Jason. But also it made her laugh and cheered her up a little. It was the only thing that would be able to do that.

When she had woken up the next morning, an uncomfortable feeling was in the pit of her stomach at the idea of being around Holbrook again later on in her shift. She knew that she had to act like what happened last night wasn't bothering her otherwise she would cause drama and let her feelings get to her. Instead of making things awkward, she was just going to put on a brave face and act like nothing happened between them.

What else was she supposed to do in her position?

Because her shift wasn't until later today, she decided to head to her Dad's to see him and distract her mind from the worries she was having. He was the only person these days that she could actually go to and just chill with him without having to think what was really going on in her life. Brooke was also a great distraction from her mind.

"Hey Carls." John replied as he took hold of his daughter and pressed a light kiss to her forehead.

Pulling away from him, she followed him out of the kitchen area they were in and into his study that was just as messy as she remembered it had always been when she use to live at home. Paper work was scattering the desk area, where a white computer, monitor and keyboard sat upon, with a desk light and some stationary. On the opposite side of the study was bookshelves covered in all sorts of medical books that Carly's dad had from when he first started studying in college and what he had collected over the years of being a doctor. A few photo frames were hung up on the walls of old pictures of the family including one of Carly and John when Carly had graduated high school.

John took a seat down on the small two seater couch what was positioned under the window where he had already been organising some paperwork and research for work before Carly had arrived. He had told her that he had a lot to do before he headed to work later on in the day but was very welcome to company until then.

Carly leant against the door frame with her hands in the pockets of her black cigarette pants as she watched him file away documents "Still as messy as I always remember."

"I'm a busy man." John told her with a smirk on his face.

"And an untidy one." Carly joked which caused John to chuckle dryly.

"Alright missy," he tutted at her in amusement at her mocking him "Behave yourself. You may not be so little anymore but I am your father."

Carly laughed at John's attempts of telling her off before she stepped more into the room "I saw Ella the other day," she paused as his eyes shifted slightly "Ella Montgomery"

"Oh you did?"

"Yeah she invited me to her engagement party on Saturday;" Carly began as she leant against the desk "Said she emailed you about the details or something."

"Uh yeah she did." John replied quietly not looking at his daughter as he kept busy.

"So do you think I could take a look?"

"Uh sure."

Rolling her eyes at his odd behaviour, she took a seat down on the desk chair and opened up her Dad's emails. Within a few seconds, the email programme popped up on the screen and Carly typed Ella's name into the search bar so she could find the email more easily rather than going through hundreds of emails her Dad got daily from the hospital.

Once she had found Ella's name, she clicked on the most and only recent email sent from Ella to John which had the subject 'Engagement Party Details'. Her eyes read over the list of details Ella had sent to her Dad such as the time, venue, date and the RVSP. But one thing in particular caught her eye causing a feeling of confusion and frustrating to cloud over her at what she saw.

In the email, Ella had not only been inviting John to the engagement event, it was also addressed to Carly and when Carly looked back at the date the email had been sent, she noticed it had been sent way before she had even got back to town meaning her Dad had known about the party for weeks yet he had not even mentioned it to her.

If she had not of ran into Ella yesterday, she would have never even known about the party and would have looked like she did not even care about the woman if she never had even turned up to the event. It would have looked like once Carly had gone away so had the feelings of the people she had cared about in this town, which certainly was not true, especially for one person in particular.

"Dad," Carly spoke up altering his attention over to where his daughter was sat at his desk, her back turned to him but if he would have seen her face he would have known just how annoyed she was "This email is addressed to you and me."

"Yeah?"

"And it was sent months ago," She added as she slowly swivelled round on the chair to face him properly "So that means you've known about me being invited to the party for ages and you never told me?"

John stared at his daughters face realising the hurt expression on her face, a lump forming in his throat when he felt the familiar feelings of guilt hit him and he knew he had to be honest with her about what he had been hiding from her.

"That's true Carly." John sighed.

Carly shook her head in annoyance as she stood up from the chair and folded her arms across her chest "I thought we were getting past this. I thought you were beginning to trust me."

"I am Carly," John snapped making Carly's eyes widen a little and when he saw the look of horror on his daughters face, he exhaled loudly again and dropped the papers down onto the couch beside him "Look I wanted to tell you but I just didn't think it would be right to when you had not even moved back to town yet."

"Why? I have been to parties in the past few years at college and I have coped completely fine, Dad," She began to explain to him with a desperate tone "And that was without you. But at this party, I presume you're coming too so I'll have you to look out for me if I ever need you, right? But I can assure you I can do this on my own just fine."

"Unfortunately I'm working that night so I won't be able to attend," John told her as he got up from his seat and stood a couple of feet between them "and I don't think you should go either when this town is a huge trigger for you."

Carly's scoffed under her breath at his comment and felt more anger bubble up within her. She hated how much they had been arguing lately and it was always over him trying to stop her from going places or being around certain people. She wished he would just stop treating her like a little kid.

She was going to go to that party whether her Dad wanted her to or not. She owed it to Ella to attend because of how close the families had been when she was growing up and it was good to see her finally happy with someone who made her happy. It may be hard and a struggle, but sometimes you just had to go through the worst, to come out better in the end and that's what Carly had been especially good at the past few years.

"I don't think you have the right to try and stop me Dad," Carly told him sternly "I'm going to that party with or without you."

"Fine go," John huffed as he walked past her to retrieve some more papers "But it's at your own risk, Carly."

"I can do this," She expressed optimistically "I have not touched alcohol in years, I have been coping just fine since being back, sure I have had a few moments when I have felt like I'm having a bad day. But I haven't allowed it to get to me or used anything to subside how I feel. I'm not going to touch any at the party. If it does even become too much for me, in which it won't then I will leave, I'll come back here and wait up for you to come home."

John glanced over at her with a questionable look, really unsure of whether he should protest and try to talk her out of it more, but by the look of determination on her face, he knew he would not be able to stop her from going. He really had to start believing in her more because if not it was going to drive her away and he needed her by his side, she was pretty much the only family he had in Rosewood. He could not lose her. He already thought he had before and that scared him greatly.

"Ok Carly." John nodded as a grin grew on Carly's face, thankful that her Dad was actually allowing her do what she wanted for once and trusted her with an opportunity to prove to him she could do this.

She quickly hurried over to him and threw her arms around his neck, giving him a gate crashing hug in which he chuckled lightly and had no choice but to hug his daughter back with not as much as enthusiasm as Carly had.

He was just grateful that his daughter was better and happier than she ever had been. He was so proud of how far she had come since the last time she was in Rosewood; she had gotten into the college of her dreams and was now training to become a detective like she had always wanted. It was like every parents dream to see their child grow up to achieve their dreams and be happy in the process.

* * *

Carly came wandering through the station around two hours after her time spent with her Dad, the nerves she had put at ease when being with him had crept back up enormously to see Holbrook again after what happened last night.

She still had no idea what she was even going to say to him or how she should handle the situation, since she had basically kicked him out last night after he was laying on top of her and kissing her. All she could think of that she was going to make up some excuse that everything was going way to fast between them and she was still apprehensive about the idea of mixing her work with her relationships.

It was the only idea she could muster up in her anxious state and had no other choice but to follow through with it to avoid Holbrook confronting her or accusing her of something else aside from her alcohol consumed past.

If this worked, meaning that Holbrook understood and was completely fine with what happened last night, she was hopeful that they could move past this and just go back to being work colleagues rather than whatever they hell they were. It wasn't like they had been dating, seeing each other or even going steady.

Carly had no idea what to label them but she was pretty convinced that the situation they found themselves in last night would be the last for a very long time. She was so aware now that she had not lost feelings for Jason whatsoever and using Holbrook as a method to get over him was a cowardly way out of how she really felt.

She didn't know how she was going to get over Jason but she was not going to use Holbrook anymore to try block it out. Instead she was just going to let time do its course, even if this meant another few years of slowly letting her feelings disappear like she had been trying the past three, then so be it because Carly had her career to focus on.

Getting into a relationship or seeing someone would just mean her priorities would change and she would just end up being distracted from working her ass off. This is why her and Holbrook could have never had worked out. Although he was in the same field as her, working in the same office at the same station, it still would have been hard to focus on her work and build her career if she sat opposite him every day knowing they were romantically inclined with each other. Also she was pretty sure Tanner would not be too happy to find out that her partner and trainee were getting it on with one another.

It would have been way too unprofessional for a job in the law enforcement and she was planning on telling Holbrook exactly that. Even if it meant he would be angry at her or it would cause tension between the two every day at work. But all she could was just be honest with him and tell him how she really felt because she could not just string him along or leave him confused when she had to throw him out again because what he was doing just reminded her of Jason.

When her eyes darted over to the office that she worked in with him, a crease formed in the middle of her forehead when she saw the office door already open and Tanner sat in Holbrook's usual seat, her back facing away from Carly so she could not see her.

This was completely out of the ordinary to see Tanner sat at the desk where Holbrook usually sat at one end and Carly at the other. Normally when Carly arrived at the station, he would be talking to one of the officers in the foyer, sitting at his desk on his computer and looking over a file or he would be out on assignment.

But never ever when he was out did Tanner come sit in the office, it was like the Lieutenant was waiting on Carly's arrival, like she was in trouble for something and Carly couldn't help but let her mind go out of control trying to figure out if in the last twenty four hours, she had done something so wrong that would make Tanner purposely wait for her so that she could punish her or kick her off the force.

The only options Carly had mustered up were that after throwing Holbrook out last night, he had got in touch with Tanner to tell her all about Carly's experience with alcohol and Tanner was now sitting there waiting to integrate Carly more on her past. She also thought that maybe Tanner had been thinking about what had happened the other day with Alison and was regretting letting Carly off so easily.

She really hoped that neither of these two scenarios happened to be true because she really could not afford to lose her dream job. If they happened to be, she certain she would let Holbrook or Alison in on just how much Carly detested them for their actions.

As confusion and panic washed over her, she slowly came inside the office and Tanner quickly turned her head to look at the young woman who had now entered the room "Good Afternoon Miss Monroe."

"Hi Lieutenant Tanner," Carly said slowly as she laid her bag down on the centre of the desk still unsure of what was going on "Where's Detective Holbrook? Has something happened with the case?"

"Unfortunately no," Tanner informed her before getting up from the desk and coming to stand opposite Carly "Detective Holbrook has had a family emergency so he won't be joining us today but I thought I would just let you know and give you your duties for today."

"Oh," Carly whispered surprised feeling a little guilty for thinking that Holbrook could have told Tanner her secret as she flashed a small smile at Tanner "Thank you."

"If you need any assistance today I'll be in my office or if I happen to go out for any reason, feel free to ask my assistant or another officer for any help." Tanner told her as she edged over to the door and Carly picked up her list of jobs for the day off the desk.

"Of course, thank you Lieutenant Tanner." She replied before Tanner nodded back at her and exited the office leaving Carly alone to her own devices.

Once Tanner was out of sight, Carly let out a sigh of relief and plonked herself down in her desk chair with her head in her hands. Part of her felt thankful that Holbrook was not going to be in today which gave her one more day to figure out what exactly she was going to say to him and it also meant she could go about her job for the day to the best of her ability without having to worry about their being any awkwardness between the two of them.

On the other hand, she felt bad for thinking that he could have rat her out like that so easily. It gave her the impression that somewhere deep down inside of her she did not trust the man as much as she thought she originally did. She was glad that she did not tell him the full story or otherwise she was pretty sure that if he ever did plan to share her secrets with her boss, she would not get out of it as easy as she would like to hope.

Also she began to wonder what family emergency could have happened since she saw him at her apartment last night. She didn't know about his family very well so she couldn't help but hope that whatever happened that he was ok. If she wanted to get on his good side and patch things up before he returned back, the least she could do in this situation was let him know that she was thinking about him in this hard time.

Pulling her phone out of her cigarette pants pocket, she brought up her messaging app and clicked on his number. Her fingers typed over the keys as she began to type out a message to him making sure that what she said in the message was a friendlier tone as opposed to talking to him in a way that could suggest she had some sort of feelings for him, because she had already told herself that she could not keep leading him on when she still felt things for Jason.

Therefore she told him that she hoped that he was alright and that if he wanted to talk about what's happened then she is all ears, as well as letting him know that she was sorry about what happened and that she hoped that this has not ruined the friendship they had begun to build.

It was time to put a stop to both Jason and Holbrook. The feelings she felt for Jason were completely different than to what she felt for Holbrook. When it came to Holbrook she felt an attraction, she loved his charming personality and how he seemed to care about her. But he just wasn't Jason.

She couldn't help but feel bad that she had to turn the guy down when he had been nothing but good to her. It was always the way. Her breaking guys hearts because her own was still pondering over Jason and not letting go of him. It was like she was still hoping that they could make something of one another however wrong it was. But Carly was pretty sure that Jason had forgotten about her by now and was not going to come back for her.

It was best if she did just forget about him.

* * *

The shift that Carly did at the station that day seemed to drag. She didn't know if it was because she did not have Holbrook to keep her company or just simply because things with the case had been moving very slowly meaning the amount of jobs she had to do were limited.

She had spent the first part of her shift doing her usual admin tasks and finding out some research on a few topics that Tanner had left her to do that she could spend the rest of the week focusing on. Tanner wanted her to build a report on the information she had gathered which would be beneficial to the case and to present it to her by next week.

Carly did not mind doing tasks like this because it meant she could prove herself to Tanner and show her some of the skills she had learnt as college, as well as from her time at the station. But it somehow felt like to her that Tanner did not trust her as much as she used to because of what had happened the past few outings when Carly had accompanied her on assignment..

It came across to her that Tanner was just leaving Carly with petty work to do to pass the time until she really needed her as an extra pair of hands or if she did something outstanding to impress Tanner enough to build that trust back up.

Carly could not help but feel bad that she might have ruined her chances of getting more involved with the work within the station and the case. She really hoped that wasn't the real reason why she had to do so much pointless research but she couldn't help but feel like it was since she had nearly completely blown it recently. Carly certainly was not the cat with nine lives.

The other part of her shift consisted of finalising her notes of the research she had found out to use as a prompt for when she would be typing up the final report, as well as helping Tanner's assistant take some calls and file away some documents for other files.

Because how early she had finished all the work set for her that day, Tanner allowed Carly to leave the station forty five minutes earlier than when her shift was actually supposed to finish.

For once in what felt like ages, Carly left the station that night with a smile on her face somewhat thankful that her shift was over and done with after it felt like it was going on forever, as well as grateful that it had gone smoothly and she could go home to relax for the rest of the night without having to worry about anything or anyone ruining it for her.

As she wondered down the steps that lead away from the station and headed towards her car, the sound of her phone beeping in her bag altered her attention causing her to reach her hand in her bag to take out the technology device.

Once it was in her hands and unlocked, she noticed that she had just received one new message from Holbrook. Her stomach began to churn slightly when she thought back to the text she had sent him earlier on in the day and she prayed that the reply she was getting back from him was one to signify that he was ok and that everything between them was also ok.

Reading over the message, she found herself exhaling when she saw the words that answered her hopes. He was well and he would tell her more about his today when he saw her next. Also he assured her that he was ok with what happened and that he forgave her for her behaviour meaning that although things between them weren't completely sorted out, they were on the road to recovery and Carly was optimistic that when they next saw each other it would work out for the best.

Smiling to herself she tapped a quick reply back to him and placed her hand back in her purse trying to find her car keys. Whilst she was busy rummaging through the mess of what she called her purse, she had not realised that someone was now crossing the street and making their way over to her with a delighted look to see her.

"Well there's a face I haven't seen in a while," They called instantly catching Carly's attention within seconds at the sound of his voice, as they climbed up the curb and came to join her on the same path she was now stood on beside her car "Hello Carly."

"Eric, Hi," Carly said in a state of shock and her tone laced with surprise to see him, she was unsure of how to act around him since she had not seen him in a while but knew she had to be as normal as possible if she wanted to get through this encounter as smoothly as possible "How have you been?"

"I've been good, yourself?"

"Yeah I'm doing well thanks," She replied as she looked over at the station as a reassurance that she could use the building as her escape if need be "I work at the station now."

"Impressive," Eric nodded with a smirk as he looked between the station and the woman "Have you seen any of the old crew since you've been back?"

"Uh no," she shook her head as she awkwardly fidgeted on her feet "not really."

"That's a shame. Everyone was always so close." He said a little too sarcastically.

"I guess so but people grow up," She told him with a fake smile wanting to get off this topic as soon as possible, she was not going into detail with him about the past, not tonight and certainly not ever "What have you been doing recently?"

"Not much, the usual, throwing parties," Eric informed as he shrugged his shoulders, the same smirk still playing on his lips like it always use to be, something's never did change "You should definitely come to one, it would be great to see you there again, you could see some old faces."

Carly felt her chest tighten after hearing his proposal, knowing that going to one of Eric Khans parties was the recipe for disaster, especially for her and something she did not want to get involved in ever again "I'm not really into the whole party thing anymore. It's not my scene."

"Nonsense," Eric chuckled as he took a step closer to her and lowered his voice "Once a party girl, always a party girl."

Her throat went dry at the reminder of her past and a lump formed in the middle of it. However frustrated and anxious she felt around Eric, she did not want him to see how she was really feeling seeing him again, so instead of allowing her feelings to take over, she decided to put on an act and stand up for herself.

"Uh well maybe I'm just an exception." She told him as she pressed down on her keys which unlocked her car and she wondered over to open up the door.

Eric quickly moved forward and watched on as Carly pulled open the door and leant over to lay her bag down on the passenger's side seat "You most certainly are," Eric said in a playful tone as Carly placed her keys in the ignition ready to drive away from this "Say, you don't happen to know what happened to that tape from that night, do you?"

All her determination to not let Eric get to her and bring her down easily was instantly washed away when she heard him ask that awful question. Her heart began to thump rapidly in her chest, her hand froze on the keys that were still wrapped around her fingers in the ignition and she was pretty sure her face was drained from its entire colour from the horror that one single question had sparked within in.

Gradually she leant her body back up straight, trying her best to compose herself but it was no use when she already knew that whatever direction Eric wanted this conversation to head in was definitely going his way and there was no way of stopping it now.

"The tape?" Carly asked trying to act like she had forgotten about it all yet it happened to be fresh in her mind now and something she thought about from time to time, another reminder of the ridiculous actions she made that had serious repercussions.

Once Eric nodded back at her and Carly noticed the 'duh look' on his face, she spoke up again truthfully and somewhat dryly "No I have no idea."

"That's sucks," Eric dramatically sighed as he placed his hands in his pockets and lowered his head slightly to the floor "you know, I would love to watch it back, see how things were back then, a little bit of history repeating itself," Carly could not even push herself to muster up a word to say back to him or get him to stop because she was just in so much shock that this was really happening to her "Maybe we could even re-enact what happened that night, for old times' sake," Eric continued with a cocky grin on his face as he brought his head up to meet with Carly's horrified look "…maybe this time I won't get a punch in the face at the end of the night."

The cocky grin on Eric's face was all it took for Carly to push aside her fear just for one moment and focus on the anger she felt towards Eric. He had some nerve to really approach her so randomly afters years of no contact and act like she had been the enemy to him all along when it had not even been like that when they had last spoke.

What had she done that been so bad to deserve the abuse he was giving her?

Maybe that had not got on that well towards the end because of what happened and how Jason had reacted. But she didn't think that Eric had any negative feelings towards Carly. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe Eric did detest her. Maybe Eric wanted to get under her skin and drive her away from town like whomever this –A was.

""Maybe it won't be from Jason this time. But most certainly me," Carly spat at him as he couldn't help but let out a chuckle mocking her words "You really are still such a smug little pig, aren't you Eric?"

"Wow Carly! You've really broken my hear there." He dramatically threw his hands up to his chest and flexed out his bottom lip jokingly as another chuckle burst out of him.

"Of course I have broken that non-existent heart of yours." She faked a smile back at him.

"Ouch there you go again," Eric teased as he took a step closer to her "Listen Carly, I really appreciate your attempt to rattle my cage, but let's be honest here, nothing will ever top the look on your face when I mentioned that tape." Carly felt her smile wipe off her face and the anxious feelings hit her again; she could not act strong with Eric constantly bringing it up again and again.

Eric's eyes never left hers as he closed the gap between them and spoke quietly into her ear "I'm serious when I say I'll get that tape back, I'll watch it, I'll enjoy it and I'll try my best to get that old Carly I once knew back," Carly's eyes trailed over to his as her breathing got heavier in fear and she was pretty sure her body was moments away from shaking as she knew what he was implying "...the one who couldn't keep her hands off me."

Knowing that his words had worked on her, he flashed another smirk in her direction before he stepped back from her and spun around on his feet walking off into the distance. It wasn't until his figure was completely out of sight that Carly finally let her eyes trail away from where he wondered off to and she tried to get her breathing under control but it was no use.

She was terrified and she couldn't stop the worried thoughts she was having about Eric and that stupid damn tape consume her brain. She knew that Eric had only said what he did to cause some reaction from her, to try and scare her, to force her to go back to the old lifestyle he once knew because he knew how his chances with her were short lived when Jason came along. But it had most certainly worked. He had provoked her, he had frightened her and he most certainly caused her to start to plan how she was going to make sure that he never got his hands on that tape.

She couldn't even begin to think of the repercussions that would happen if Tanner or her Dad found out about the tape. She was pretty sure Tanner would be less than amused and would probably question Carly about it, she would probably get off lightly compared to how bad her Dad would react to seeing the tape. It was something she didn't even want to think a lot about because it would certainly make her feel worse than she already did.

She needed to get out of here and get her head sorted out before she made any rash decisions that would have a negative impact with the situation she had now got herself into. It seemed like every single week now there was someone or something from her past getting in her way of making her future better. She could only hope that things got better from here.

Plucking up the strength, she quickly hopped inside of her car and threw on her seat belt before she turned on the engine and accelerated away from the station with tears threatening to stream down her face any second. She promised herself that she would not cry ever again only if there was a proper purpose and she certainly was trying not to waste her tears on Eric.

Carly just could not wait to get home and hide away for a bit without having to face the real world. She knew that she had to think about what she was going to do so if she was at home, in the warm and in her comfy clothes, then thinking straight would be a hell lot easier.

Around ten minutes later she pulled up outside her apartment and within minutes she had already locked her car, climbed up the stairs and was inside her apartment with her bag dumped on the table, her shoes chucked by the door and she began pacing up and down the bedroom trying to figure out what the hell she was going to do.

Why did things have to be so complicated? Why couldn't her past just stay in the past? Why couldn't she just be left alone and not have to deal with the consequences of what happened years ago?

She already had gone through enough crap to have made up for her mistakes. She was living with anxiety and having to deal with her demons every day, surely that was enough for her to be left alone from her horrid past and move forward with her future.

Carly understood that it was going to take time for her to adjust to living back in Rosewood with a high chance of her past haunting her or her secrets not staying secret. She would have not moved back to Rosewood if she had not been aware or prepared for that. But she was and she knew it was going to be hard.

However she never expected it to be like this, she never thought that so many people from her past wanted her to leave Rosewood again, she never thought she would have to try so hard to hide her past from her boss, she didn't think Alison would still dislike Carly so much that she would want to ruin her chances of becoming a detective, she had no idea she would have some A person harassing her and she most certainly didn't think she would be contemplating the only idea she could think of right now to try stop Eric from getting his hands on that tape.

Stopping in the middle of her bedroom and looking over at one area in her room in particular, Carly folded one of her arms across her chest and the other elbow rested against the palm of her hand, as her fingers played with her bottom lip in uncertainty of whether or not she should do what she was about to do.

This could either go the way she wanted it to go such as knowing where the tape was so she knew that it would be in a safe place and that no one could get their hands on it. Or it could go horrible wrong by not having a clue where it was and digging herself into a deeper hole than she already was.

Ignoring all the negative doubts she was having, she marched over to her bed side unit and flung it upon. Her hands began to get to work in shifting through the contents of the draw was crammed full of loads of old junk. Once Carly's hands fell on the item that she had been looking for, she brought it up to get a closer look and found her heart began to pump harder in her chest, the same tears from earlier reappearing in her eyes.

This was so wrong, but this was the only idea she could come up with and she could not sleep knowing that Eric could have a chance of getting his hands on it anytime soon, which only meant every minute wasted was another opportunity less for her and more for him.

Leaning across, she grabbed her phone which she had dumped on her bed when she had first come in and began to dial the number that was scribbled down on the car. Hesitantly she brought the phone up to her ear and chewed on her bottom lip anxiously, knowing that there was no turning back now, as the ringing tone played through her ear loudly and she waited for what felt like forever until a voice picked up on the other end.

Carly found herself sighing when the voice was actually a recorded message from an answer machine, meaning she had no other choice than to leave a message and hope that they would get back to her as soon as possible.

Once the answer machine voice ended and the beep filled her ear drums from the speaker, Carly spun around on her feet and spoke up nervously "Hi Jason, its Carly. I know this is a bit out of the blue and weird for me to be calling you, but it's really important. Please can you call me back when you get this, thanks."

* * *

 **Author note: Maybe some of you were expecting an update on Sunday as promised? But I decided not to due to the lack of feedback and just tick to once a week. I'll go back to my Thursday schedule. But I have to upload today (Wednesday) due to me being busy tomorrow.**

 **Anyway. Thanks so much to Rhatch89 for reviewing! You always do and I'm so grateful for it.**

 **I hope this chapter was up to standards.**

 **Review if you like.**


	19. Resurface

**Resurface:**

 _'Shit'_ was all that Carly could think after she pulled the phone away from her ear and hit the end button, before she threw the phone down onto the bed and it wasn't long before her body crashed down beside it in one big huff.

She could not believe that she had actually just reached out to the one person that she had promised to herself over a hundred times to forget about and move on. Yet here she was calling him up at the first sign of trouble, hoping that he held the answer to her problem, like he was some knight in shining armour to her and she was the damsel in distress.

Running her fingers through her hair in frustration, she let a large sigh escape her mouth and allowed her eyes to flutter shut, trying her hardest to not let the tears that kept persistently coming back seep out any time soon.

She would not allow herself to cry over such a matter, because if not it would look like Eric had won and Carly certainly wasn't allowing the guy she had not seen or been in contact in years hold something over her like that so easily. If she could get things sorted out properly, then it would be one less thing to worry about and she could put Eric back in his place where he belongs.

The sound of her phone vibrating and beeping broke her out of her thoughts, her eyes snapping back open within a flash and her hands quickly scrambled to pick up the cell phone device that had originally been positioned beside her.

Rolling onto her front, she could already feel how hard her heart was pounding in her chest as her hands shakily unlocked her phone to read the message she had just received from the number she had contacted Jason with only minutes before.

Her eyes flickered across the bright screen in front of her, reading over the message and trying to prepare her for what she was seeing on the screen, part of her felt panicked and unsure if she should even be doing this, reaching out to him and making him aware that she needed him. The other half of her was pushing her to get it over and done with so she could either go to bed reassured or stay up all night figuring out how she was going to stop Eric.

But one thing was for sure, was what Jason was basically implying for her to do was making her more nervous than she already was. It wasn't the kind of nervous like when you're anxious for the outcome or to go to an important interview or meeting. It was more of the 'I'm going to be seeing Jason again after a few weeks of no contact, trying to move on from that part the past and let him see the more vulnerable side' kind of nervous.

Dropping the phone down onto the bed again, she glanced over to the clock on the wall in her bedroom, the second's hand ticking by quickly signifying that time was running out and that she had to go through with this, even if it meant going against everything she had promised herself the past few weeks.

She had even admitted to herself just last night that she wasn't over him and this would be the perfect test to see if she could confirm these feelings. Also it meant she could get some sort of guide as to where she stood with this whole Eric situation.

Sliding off the bed in a hurry, she leant under her bed and pulled out her laptop before she quickly pressed the on button. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it had been left on 'hibernate mode' meaning she could log on straight away without having to wait for the computer to load up.

Exiting the internet page she had been on before when she had last used her laptop, her fingers dragged the mouse over to the 'video chat' program and she double clicked it. It wasn't long before it loaded up and asked for her log in details, her fingers now moving over to the keypad where the typed in her email address and password to log into.

Once the program had logged her in, she didn't even look at any part of the screen apart from the add contact tab on the top right hand corner. When the box appeared on the screen for her to type into, she picked her phone up off the bed before laying it on her knee where her legs were crossed legged on the centre of her bed and tapped the screen which flashed up the text again.

She copied the address from the message into the box and clicked the add button. Within seconds the contact request was accepted and Carly had to take a moment to get composed before she could even think about hitting the video call button.

If she had been feeling nervous before, she certainly had gotten tense at what was about to happen and she just hoped that it worked how it should be, that she would find the answers she was looking for, she wouldn't be a trembling wreck and would not get attached to Jason over again.

Taking one last inhale, she tapped at the call button and adjusted her position on the bed, making sure she fixed her hair and smoothed down her clothes whilst the call began to play out in her quiet apartment. Aside from the beeping tone, she could hear how hard and fast her heart was pounding in her chest, that she became pretty sure it would jump out of her sometime soon.

Suddenly the tone ended, the screen on the laptop went black aside from the small box at the bottom which was showing Cary from her webcam. Her lips rubbed together nervously as she waited for him to appear on the screen, knowing she was going to be seeing him and talking to him again for the first time since that morning when she had basically kicked him out of her apartment, after they had spent the night having sex with each other.

Within a few moments, the screen flashed again and it wasn't long before Jason appeared on the screen. From what Carly could work out, he was perched on a wooden chair against a desk in with a large double bed positioned behind him and what looked like a hotel room from the style of it.

She couldn't help but stare intently at the screen in disbelief that she was seeing him again with her own two years and had the opportunity to speak to him again without any complications such as him not responding to her because he didn't want anything to do with her. Also she was finding it hard to look anywhere else apart from him, she hated how she was still so attracted to him and couldn't take her eyes away from him whatsoever.

Shaking her head at the thoughts she was having about him all ready, she began to focus back on the whole reason she had got in contact with him that night. She needed to get this sorted out and the quicker it was done then she could move on from Jason again, for the however many time it was. This could not keep going on though. It was so wrong in so many levels.

"Hi Jason." Carly was the first one to break the silence after releasing why she had even done this in the first place. She had to stick to the plan.

"Hey Carly," he replied back in the same soft tone as her as he stared back at her on the screen, he could see the pained expression and tears in her eyes making him worried instantly, he knew that she would have not have gotten in contact with him so randomly if it was for a friendly catch up because she had made it pretty clear back at her apartment that day how she felt about the situation they had got themselves into, but he couldn't help but want to know what was wrong with her "What's the matter?"

Lowering her head slightly and looking away from him, she began to fiddle with the end of her sleeve on her blouse, another annoying habit she did when she was nervous "There's no easy way to go about this so I'm just going to be honest and up front about it," she paused as she brought her head back up to see him "Those video's that you, Ian and Garrett use to make, do you have those tapes or any idea of where they are these days?"

Jason found himself frowning upon hearing her words, a lump forming in his throat at the reminder of a part of his past he wish he could change more than anything but he couldn't, so instead he cleared his throat and told her the truth "No I have not had or seen any of them tapes in years. I got myself away from that a few months after we first met. If you want me to be honest, the last person I can guarantee had a hold of those tapes happened to be Ian, that guy always had a camera in his hands."

"Yeah I guessed he might have been the one to keep a hold of them." Carly sighed knowing that this was not the answer she was hoping for but it reassured her slightly.

"Yeah," Jason nodded agreeing with her and still noticed the stressed look on her face "So I can probably guess that they are amongst his possessions somewhere, whatever his family decided to do with them after his death."

"I see." She muttered plucking up the energy to force a fake smile on her face so Jason would not suspect her mood. She couldn't crumble. Not now. Not never.

However Jason had already been aware of her odd behaviour and how worried she sounded on the phone, as well as with the conversation they were having now. It had been the whole reason why he had opted for a video chat instead of a regular phone call because then he could observe her mannerisms aside from the tone of her voice. He knew how she worked very well and he clearly understood that there was something clearly wrong with the girl.

"What is it?" He asked worriedly, before the smile Carly had managed to force wiped off her face in realisation that Jason knew there was more to the story.

"I bumped into Eric Kahn tonight," She began to explain to him trying so hard to hold off the tears and the anxiety "He brought up the tape, he basically threatened me with it by saying he wanted to get his hands on it, so he could watch it back and both of us could redo it again for old time's sake."

"He said that to you?"

Carly nodded back at him with the same fake smile from before and couldn't help but stare in amazement at how Jason was reacting to the situation. He looked completely angry and guilty for what she had told him. It actually seemed like to Carly that he still cared about her and the thought of that possibly being true made her stomach flutter slightly, those old feelings still prominent and hitting her hard that there was no point even trying to deny the way she felt about him anymore.

"Jeez, Carly," Jason sighed frustrated at what he was hearing his eyes rolling down to the floor before they came back up again to look at the fragile girl on the screen "I always hated that guy. God, I wish I could promise you that he would never get his hands on that tape but knowing Eric, he probably just wanted to provoke you, get some reaction out of you because-."

"It's fine, Jay." Carly interrupted him in a quiet tone before he could continue on.

She didn't want him to get upset over something that only concerned her and Eric. That could not happen again. The last time that happened they had been completely different people and were closer than ever. However this time round, they had both changed in so many ways and were more apart than ever. It just wasn't the same.

She had tried the only plan she had come up with, which firstly was so wrong and silly of her to do even do and it had of course failed. Jason had no idea where the tape was and could only lead her to a dead end of it being left with Ian, who happened to not be alive. Therefore, this meant Carly had to pray that the tapes were safe or hopefully lost forever. Or she was going to have to rethink some other plan that would save the tape from getting out.

But maybe Jason was right. Maybe Eric had only threatened her with the tape to cause some reaction within her as a warning about coming back to Rosewood and pretending to be the good girl like everyone presumed.

"No I'm serious," Jason huffed as he shook his in disagreement staring at the floor "Ian would have been the last one to have those tapes, he was obsessed with them and I'm pretty sure that for Eric to get his hands on it, it would be near impossible to do."

"I know you're right," She replied before a few moments of silence fell on the pair, neither knowing where to go with the conversation next as Jason knew he couldn't make a promise that he was unsure of and Carly not knowing how to get herself out of contacting him after trying so hard to stay away "But can you promise me something?"

Jason glanced up at her from where he had previously been looking and raised his eyebrows up at the girl to continue on, part of him confused as to what she wanted from him but he knew that he would have done anything for her back then and still would now "Go on."

"If Eric ever asks you for any idea of where the tapes are, then you have to promise me that you won't tell him," Carly explained to him with a desperate tone in her voice and her bottom lip trembled slightly when she spoke as he pulled a puzzled expression at her, he had never seen her looking so worried before that it made him shocked at how much she really had changed "I'm serious Jason."

"Relax Carly," Jason hushed her as he held up his hands in defence "You don't have to worry about me spilling anything to Eric. You know I won't and you know how I feel about him. I'm pretty much to blame for the whole tape situation anyway…"

"Jason…"

"No I am, we both know I am."

"That's not true."

Jason couldn't help but stare back at the girl closely, like he was trying to work out why she was still defending him after all the time they had been a part over the years and all the destruction he had caused her for getting her involved with his world. He did not understand why she would bother with him again after all of that.

It amazed him to say the least that this girl was still prepared to do that for him, when he only blamed himself for what happened to her that year, he blamed every single bad moment of her life on himself, he wished he never let her see that side of him and his life, he should have just let her stay well clear of him and not have been so selfish to keep her around in his life because it would have saved so much pain.

"What?" Carly asked as she saw Jason had been staring at her, it was not only making her feel puzzled as to why he was, as well as somehow feeling nervous that he was analysing the way she looked. She was pretty aware she looked like a mess after a day at work and running in to Eric the way she had caused her to feel and look exhausted.

However deep down she kind of enjoyed the way he was looking at her, it felt a hell lot better than when Holbrook was always gazing at her in their office.

After hearing her question, he broke out of his thoughts in a hurry and he could already feel the heat rushing up to his face at the realisation he had been caught for gazing at her for far too long. Jason had did not mean to stare at her the way he was. He hoped he had not creeped her out in any way.

"What?" He replied trying to act as if what he had been doing wasn't wrong because if you had rewound to a few years ago, he was pretty convinced Carly would have loved to have known he was staring at her.

"You were staring at me…." Carly replied back with a frown and a small smile playing on her lips at Jason's poor attempts to cover it up.

Before Jason could have the chance to interpose, the sound of Carly's phone ringing on the bed beside her caused her eyes to wonder over to the cell phone which had caught her attention, and her eyes widened a little when she saw that Brooke was the one who happened to be the one who the incoming call was from.

"Uh…" Carly began as a sudden wave of panic washed over her of the reminder that she should not even be in contact with Jason, let alone talking to him again like nothing had changed between the two of them but seeing Brooke's name flash on the screen was enough for Carly to be reminded of what she had promised to not only her Dad and Brooke, but herself also.

"I have to take this." She told him as she took her cell into her hands and looked back at Jason on the screen.

A look of disappoint flooded over his face when he realised that his time was cut short talking to her and he was sure that he would not get another chance to talk to her again because of what she had said that day at the apartment about the two of them not being together.

Jason understood that Carly just did not feel the same way about him like he did her. It was so stupid of him to even think they could go back to what they used to be. He had ruined that girl's life, seeing her looking so frantic and concerned tonight proved just how badly he had damaged it, maybe it was best for him to continue to stay away from Carly and Rosewood.

He quickly replaced his expression, trying to convince her but more so him that it was the right thing to do to let her go and move on from this. But he couldn't help but let the feelings inside of him want her to stay just a little longer and rekindle whatever they had back then again, it was like every time he was around her or talking to her, the feelings he had all those years ago came back.

"Sure of course." Jason replied with the fake a smile, a thick awkward tension grew between the two of them, a horrible feeling they both did not want but had to accept was the reality now of two people who wanted to be together but couldn't.

"Thanks for um, you know, the whole tape thing." Carly told him as she glanced between the still ringing cell phone and the laptop screen where Jason was.

"Uh yeah sure," he cleared his now dry throat awkwardly "don't mention it."

Carly uncomfortably flashed a smile in his direction and nodded back at him before she found herself reaching over to the laptop mouse, wanting to end the awkward conversation the pair were having as soon as possible before it over stepped the mark completely. She had already gone way too far contacting him again when she was supposed to be trying to get over him.

However Jason still was hung on the idea that he did not want to let her get away so easily this time. He had told her last time they had spoken that she could contact him whenever she had wanted to when she needed him. The tape seemed like the perfect opportunity for her to do that and Jason felt pleased that Carly still trusted him with situations like this, proving to not only him, but herself that she did actually need him sometimes even now three years on.

It also gave him that extra boost to try and let her know that he was serious about him being there for her. He wanted to stay in touch with her, even if it meant only until the whole tape incident blew over, as long as he just got a little more time to get to know the new Carly and see if any of the girl he once knew was still in there.

It was 100% risky to want to get to know her again and possibly bring her back into his life. But he just hoped that maybe deep down, she would still feel the same way and want him back in her own life despite the consequences.

As Jason saw her go to end the call, he leaned forward slightly in his seat frantically "Wait, Carly!" he called grabbing her attention instantly as she back away from the laptop slightly and a sigh in relief escaped his lips after this "I know you would have not got in contact with me if it wasn't for what happened with Eric tonight, but please just message me to let me know you're ok or if you need my help with anything."

Carly's chest tighten at his proposal, her heart pounding in her chest for what felt like the thousandth time that night as she stared back at him, unsure of what to do or say, she had no idea where this was going to lead to, but she hated how it felt so good to hear him say that when she knew it was so wrong if she allowed it to happen.

Although there was no one there to stop her yet herself and that is what caused her so many mistakes that year, not having proper guidance and allowing her feelings for Jason to take control, just like they were now if she did not stop herself.

"Jason…I…I don't know if that is such a good idea."

"Please, Carly," Jason begged with pleading eyes which made her heart sink "I hated seeing you look so worried."

Exhaling loudly, her eyes darted down to her phone which had finally stopped ringing on her lap, the 'one missed call' message popping up, signalling that she had not been quick enough to say goodbye to Jason and had to now find some excuse to make up to Brooke about why she had not answered her call.

The silence in her apartment was enough for the feelings of anxiety to return back to her like another reminder of how she lived alone now and how she still had so many different things to worry about such as her job, Holbrook, Tanner, Eric and the tapes, -A or Alison, her secrets, her past, her Dad and Brooke, the whole lot of it was playing on her mind. She had no escape goat apart from Jason.

Turning back to the screen, she glanced at the man opposite her, trying to form words and trying to catch her breath as she decided what she should do. She hated how hard this was and how if she allowed herself to fall back into Jason's world again so easily, she would be gambling so much of what she had been building up the last few years.

But maybe, this could be a new curve in her life, a new opportunity for her to prove to her Dad mainly that Jason wasn't the bad guy in this, that she and Jason had grown up so much, they were both different people now and maybe them being together was the perfect way for them to move on from the past.

Shaking her head at the thoughts that were going too far ahead already, all Jason wanted her to do was message him to let him know that she was ok and if she needed his help then she could go for him, she was letting her feelings take hold of her once again.

"Fine," Carly nodded at Jason "I'll let you know."

Carly watched as the corners of Jason's mouth twitched up into a light smile, her stomach churning when she saw how pleased he looked, before she eventually allowed herself to end the video chat that the two were having, the screen going black once the call had ended, the reflection of herself could be seen on the screen now.

She could not believe that had just happened and she had tolerated it to happen with such ease. It was literally like somethings never did change when it came to Jason. How the hell was she going to get over this one?

Running her fingers over her face distressed, she slipped down off the bed and took hold of her phone in her hand, ready to call Brooke and try come up with some story as to why she had no answered the call. Mentioning Jason and the tape was definitely something she was not going to bring up in her conversation with Brooke, however much she hated lying to her, it was just best her friend did not know about what had been happening the past few hours.

On the third ring, Brooke answered the phone and her joyful voice on the other end up the line was enough to make Carly feel slightly better about how she felt "Hello Miss Monroe."

"Hey Brooke," Carly greeted back trying to muster up a happy tone to sound convincing as she paced the room "Sorry I missed your call, I was just getting out of the shower."

"Hey don't worry about it," Brooke responded before a silence crept on the pair, Carly still trying to deal with what had just gone on with Jason and the tape saga, whilst Brooke was trying to figure out why her best friend was acting so odd "What's up with you?"

"Me?" Carly asked trying to fake surprise "Nothing? Everything's fine."

"Come on Carly, I know you and to me you don't' sound fine, so tell me what's up."

Carly came to a halt in the middle of her bedroom floor when she knew that she would not be able to get around this one as easy. Brooke definitely did know her too well. She hated how easy she gave things away, no wonder she had allowed Jason back into her life so easily and more than once over the past few weeks.

Wondering over to the end of the bed, she perched her bottom on the end of it "I don't know. Just everything really, I feel like Lieutenant Tanner, my boss, does not trust me anymore and I feel like my position is strained, things at the station have been moving so slow and I did not have a partner all day, so works just has been dragging."

"What's happened with Lieutenant Tanner?"

"She basically hates me. I interrupted a few investigations because of my big mouth and ever since then she hasn't trusted me."

"Oh Carly," Brooke sighed with a slight giggle knowing that sounded a lot like her friend "At least you have a job!"

"I know," Carly replied wanting to move away from her life in case she let slip about tonight "Still no luck then?"

"Nope," She groaned in annoyance as she began to figure something out "Isn't Detective Holbrook your partner? Where was he?"

"Uh yeah he had a family emergency so he wasn't' in today but he text me to tell me he was fine, nothing to worry about, so."

"Ohhh you're on texting terms, ay?"

"Brooke!"

"What? This is a real big step, texting your boss out of hours and checking in on him, why do you not update me about these things?"

"Because you start going off like that," Carly couldn't help but laugh at how much Brooke overreacted to situations similar to this "Plus I don't want to disappoint you but sadly the Carly and Holbrook ship has sailed."

"What?" Brooke exclaimed saddened by this news "Since when? What happened between you guys?"

"It just wasn't for me, Brooke. I don't know. Just felt weird, you know me and him, we work together, he's basically my boss and I don't want to ruin the chances of me becoming a detective by getting close with my boss, it would look so unprofessional of me."

"Ah damn Carly. That's such a shame but I understand where you're coming from. Please tell me that you at least you know experienced the more sensual side of things before you decided it wasn't right for you." Brooke asked teasingly and Carly could picture the smirk on her best friends face.

"Brooke!" Carly squealed in surprise but should she have been so surprised when Brooke had always been the dirty on of the group "If you really must know, first base did happen only once."

"Thank god!" She chuckled causing Carly to be confused at her reaction.

"What? I thought you would be disappointed by this?"

"I would but not if it means that I can get my hands on him when I see him and not go against girl code."

"Oh my god," Carly laughed harder, feeling better now she was talking to Brooke "So you're definitely planning on coming to Rosewood?"

"To meet Detective Holbrook? Then yeah definitely."

The two fell about in laughter, Carly's anxiety had fallen enormously because of how normal she felt talking to Brooke and having a joke with her friend, it reminded her of the times when she felt normal, like she had no cares in the world and could be free without having to worry about anything happening that could ruin her.

It was something she had not felt whatsoever since being back in Rosewood. Something she missed from when she used to live in New York with Brooke and their other dorm mates. Everything just seemed so much easier.

As the laughter died down, Brooke spoke up "I'd love to stay and chat but I have to be up early tomorrow to go to some careers fair but seriously Carly, try not let work get you down, this is what you have wanted for so long, just keep working hard and being your awesome self."

"Thanks Brooke and good luck tomorrow, hopefully something will crop up and you will have a job the next time I speak to you." Carly smiled.

"I hope so, speak soon." Brooke told her before the line went dead, leaving Carly to also end the call and put her phone down on the bed, thankful that the call had not gone bad and had actually cheered her up slightly.

Yet she still had that uneasy feeling in her stomach about Eric, she felt somewhat reassured that the tapes were last with Ian which did not come as a shock to her but it also meant that because Ian was dead, what happened to them amongst his possessions was something that she didn't have the answer to. There was still a chance that Eric could get a hold of that tape. But if she had Jason on her side, maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she had originally thought.

The only bad thing was that Carly was letting her feelings resurface even more than she already had, but was she even going to try and stop herself from getting involved with him all over again, when it was all that she had always wanted and possibly still did.

* * *

 **Author note: So I decided to actually stick to the original schedule plan of Sunday's and Wednesday's after seeing all the reviews on the last part. I felt guilty and felt like I owed you for how many of you took time to review this time.**

 **I really hope you are pleased that the wait for Jason to be in it again is over! I know it was long but I wanted to try make it as realistic as possible, as well as try to keep to the show storyline/appearences as much as possible. It's hard work writing an O/C and Jason story when the poor guy is only in a few episodes.**

 **Special thanks to RHatch89, HOAfan8509, LiLuLo12, Shh, Kelly Smalls and all the guest reviewers! Thank you so much for your support. I loved reading your reviews.**

 **Let me know your thoughts if you wish to. I really appreciate it.**

 **Thanks so much,**

 **Hope you enjoyed this part and the story so far xx**


	20. Balance

**Balance:**

If it wasn't just for the still uncomfortable feeling in her stomach, the aching of her chest, her mind still overthinking and processing everything that happened the past few hours, it was also the ever growing loud and powerful storm outside which was keeping her up that night.

Her eyes rolled over to the window, where the curtain was blowing open slightly from the small gap in the open window where a strong breeze was coming through, the rain was battling down against the glass causing Carly to pull the covers round her body more as she shut her eyes once more and tried to switch off into a slumber.

However the sound of a large gust of wind and the sound of curtain rings moving on the poll was enough for her eyes to flash open again, a frustrated feeling growing over her as she flung the covers off her body and climbed out of the bed before going over to the window.

Reaching up on her tip toes, she quickly closed the window and carefully adjusted the white sheer curtains, so that they were completely closed and blocked out any light from the outside, as well as the horrific weather that was currently passing through Rosewood.

With a sigh, Carly hopped back into bed and laid on her back, only this time her phone was in her hand, where she was already unlocking the device and going onto her messages app. She could see from the top right corner of the screen that the time was already 11:45pm and it had been half an hour since she had first originally tried to get to sleep, which had already proven impossible to complete.

Her eyes wondered over the screen whilst her thumb scrolled down it, looking over the conversations she always left open which included Brooke and her Dad, as well as her most recent ones with Melissa, Holbrook and Jason.

Although, the number she had for Jason was still just a number on the screen, it did not signify it was him and for some odd reason it made Carly feel slightly better that no one would find out about her talking to him again. It also was like a reassurance to her knowing that he was still there, even if it he really wasn't completely with her and only she knew that it was his number.

Hesitantly, she clicked on the message she had received from Jason those hours ago when she had first got in touch with him. Since getting off the video chat with him, she had not been able to stop thinking about him and it was sending her slightly crazy. Part of her just wanted to be able to get some sleep so she did not have to think about Jason, all the good parts of him including the way he made her feel, but also the horrid memories she had of their time together that year and how guilty she recently felt about lying to her Dad and Brooke.

Although she could not brush off the idea that she wanted to talk to him, she wanted to seek that assurance from him, she wanted him to know that she still thought about him and cared about him so much. However wrong it was, she could not stop herself from wanting to just talk to him, be normal with him and act like they were still close, despite how things had changed, how delirious she sounded and that she was totally contradicting everything she had promised herself.

Slowly she began to type out of a message to him, before she read the first part over again and deleted it thinking it was too far forward and he would think it was weird. Shaking her head in stupidity, she continued typing out a text to him and quickly pressed the send button before she could regret it, making sure that what she was writing to him, made sense for starters, but also came across as a way that would not give her feelings for him away so easily because she still wasn't sure if he even felt the same way about her.

She was somewhat sure that maybe after that night when they got their final goodbye that they had both wanted that summer, she thought that Jason would want nothing to do with her and once he left Rosewood there would be no chance in hell of them rekindling anything. Also she thought she might have pushed him away from her because of how she acted the following morning, she had been pretty brutal and harsh towards him, mainly because she was ashamed of herself and blamed what happened on her own self-control.

But she was also unsure about that theory because of how whenever they were supposed to say goodbye to each other properly, he would always make her promise him that if she ever needed him, that she could talk to him about anything and that to her gave her this slight glimmer that maybe he still did have some feelings for her.

The sound of her phone vibrating, signalling to her that she had just received a message, broke her out of her thoughts and her attention shifted back towards her phone that was lightning up the dark room she lay in and alerting her of her new message. It was from Jason.

 _Its fine, I'm awake. But you're not asleep. So what's up? You're welcome. Jason xx_

Carly felt a frown form on her face once she had read the text and bite down on her bottom lip when she realised her heart was beating like crazy. She scolded herself for acting like some teenager who had just got noticed by her crush for the first time. It was only Jason and they had been closer than ever before, she had nothing to be nervous about, so why was she was behaving like some school girl?

 _How did you know something was wrong?x_

She hit the send button before rolling over onto her side and waiting for her reply, she definitely was not getting any sleep soon now she had sparked up a conversation with him, something she was unsure she would regret in the morning and blame it on a sleepy daze.

 _You're forgetting that I use to have to wake you up every Saturday morning to get you home before your Dad got in from work, you use to love sleeping! What happened to that?x_

When Carly's eyes read over the text, she felt a smile grace over her lips at the memory that use to happen on more than one occasion when Jason would have to wake her up the morning after one of the parties and have to get her home before her Dad got back from his night shift at the hospital. It was in aid of making sure that he wouldn't suspect that his daughter had been out all night. Although it had proven difficult for Jason to wake the girl up when she just loved to sleep, especially after a night of drinking and a hangover to wake up to.

It had worked most of the time up until John found out about what his daughter got up to after hours with the older bad behaved group in Rosewood. After then he use to make sure his neighbours kept a close eye on when Carly left and returned the house, as well as texting her every opportunity he could during his shifts, most of the time Carly ignored his texts from being too drunk to even make out what they said and of course gave John a clear idea what she was up to.

But it wasn't just the memory that caused a reaction within her; it was the question Jason had asked her at the end of the message. What had happened to that? 'Good question' she thought as she was reminded once again the whole reason why her Dad had kept her away from Rosewood for so long and how the damage her time with Jason had affected her life.

She knew she would not tell that part of her new life, the new her, she would definitely be missing that part out because she just wasn't ready to tell him about especially when this was only the fourth time they had talked since she had returned. Maybe someday he would know how badly she was affected by it all. But for now, it was best if the conversation was kept to a minimum and he was out of the blue of that side of her.

 _Trust me, I still remember that. I just can't sleep with this storm going on and what happened tonight with Eric.x_

As she hit the send button, another notification on her phone popped up from her email app, letting her know that she had just received an email from the Rosewood Police Department. Frowning at how weird it was for her to get an email this late at night, she came off her conversation with Jason and opened up the email on her inbox.

The Rosewood Police Department had emailed her about a new update within the Alison DiLaurentis case. It was sent from Tanner's assistant who happened to be updating Carly of the recent events of that night. Lieutenant Tanner had been called to the Marin household to question Alison and Ashley Marin about a supposed break in at the household, from a man carrying a knife and once he had heard Ashley on the phone to the cops, he had ran. The events of tonight at the Marin's have some sort of relation to the case and that is why Carly was being informed of what happened due to her working on the case.

This case just seemed to be getting more and more out of control and confusion for Carly to even process the information, as well as still being in a sleepy state. She was sure she would read over the email again in the morning and would investigate more at work the next day. But right now her main focus was getting to sleep; although that was still a work in progress with Jason still texting Carly and she acting like a silly little teenager in love every time her phone went off.

 _Relax Carls. I already promised you that he would not get his hands on it and he won't. Just try get some sleep, if you still can't, then I'll wait up for you. Xx_

She found her heart nearly melting in her chest when she read his message, her theory about him not caring about her anymore and making sure that she was ok was definitely hanging to more of the false side as opposed to being true. She hated how good he made her feel and how at ease his words made her, even if they were just simple and meaningless. But to her, they meant everything and she could not stop the feelings she had for him. There was no way in hell she was going to be able to get over him now.

That night when Melissa had turned up at Carly's apartment, it was the night that Carly first acknowledged her proper feelings for Jason. It had been the whole reason why she had kept onto that card with his contact number on it. She did not expect it to use it at first because she had big plans to move on with her life, she had tried to do that by getting stuck into her job but wherever corner she turned there would be someone there from her past, bringing up what happened back then and her involvement with Jason. Also she had tried to move on by using Holbrook as a distraction or a way out of how she really felt, it had worked at first and she was beginning to really warm up to him, but that night at her apartment when things had begun to heat up between the pair, it just had reminded her of Jason again.

Nothing had seemed to work for her. She has lost all hope of even trying to get over him and now she was just letting her emotions pull her back into a world with Jason in it. Only this time, there was the possibility that they could become something because she had gathered Jason was single and Carly was not planning on leaving Rosewood anytime soon.

Of course she had her Dad to win over the idea of his daughter being back with the guy he despises and the risk of being with Jason could jeopardise her job because she could appear unprofessional, as well as Jason looking suspicious. But despite that, there was nothing or no one else stopping them this time round. It could work however crazy it sounded.

Carly felt her eye lids flutter shut and it was only then that she realised just how peaceful it had recently got. The storm has stopped outside and it was completely silent in her apartment apart from the sound of the clocks ticking. Yet she somehow felt a lot calmer and hopeful about the direction things were heading it. And it was then that her breathing began to get heavier as she drifted off into a deep sleep with her phone still tightly tucked up in her hand, like if she let go then she would be letting go of Jason.

Maybe all along her feelings had not subsided however hard she tried, because she was just holding onto this last bit of hope that things between them would work out.

* * *

When Carly arrived at work the next morning, she had been nothing more than confused when she saw Lieutenant Tanner approaching her from down the front steps that lead up to the entrance of the station. A small smile was playing on the corners of the older woman's lips when she realised Carly was walking towards her.

"Good morning, Miss Monroe." Lieutenant Tanner greeted her trainee as the two of them met in the middle of the walk way up to the station.

"Good morning, Lieutenant." Carly replied back as she adjusted her bag strap on her inner elbow and held her cup of coffee in the other hand feeling slightly nervous what Tanner was going to say to her since she still felt like her every move was being watched, like she was still in trouble.

"I have a few errands to run, I was thinking that maybe you could join me rather than being stuck in the office all day." Tanner suggested with a hint of hopefulness that Carly would join her.

Raising her eyebrows up in surprise at the proposal, Carly couldn't help but feel more nervous that this was going to be a test for Carly to impress Tanner and prove to her that this is what she wanted after, what had happened the last few times that the pair went out with each other what left Tanner with uncertainty about the young woman. Also Carly was shocked that Tanner even wanted her to come with her since she had been doing pity jobs ever since in the office, it definitely had to be a test of some sort.

"Uh yeah sure," Carly stated trying to brush away the nerves "I'd love to join you."

"Great," Tanner nodded as she pulled out her car keys from her pocket and motioned over to the vehicle parked on the side of the road "This way then."

Carly slowly turned on her feet as she watched Tanner pass by her and wonder over to her car, leaving Carly stood in her space on the pavement, knowing that she was going to have to really show to Tanner that she was so serious about her job. She was going to have to bit her tongue whenever she wanted to place her own input so she wouldn't look unprofessional or interrupt Tanner, she was going to have to act strong and not crack, and most definitely she was going to have to hope and pray really hard that she was going to bump into anyone who she knew who was related to the case, especially Alison.

Bringing her coffee cup up to her lips, she downed the rest of the once was warm liquid and was now turning cool coffee, before she walked over to the trash can on the sidewalk and dumped it into the garbage. Taking a deep breath, she made her way over to join Tanner in the front of her unmarked police car, where Carly could already make out that Tanner was flicking through a file and the sound of the engine on the car was running filling the somewhat quiet street.

Once Carly had climbed into the passenger side of the car and belted herself in, Tanner handed over the case file that Tanner had previously had open. The trainee detective took it from her grasp and laid it on her lap, her eyes rolling down to the sticker on the front that had the name 'Shana Fring' on it, signalling that this had documentation had something to with what happened with what happened in New York that night when Carly had her first shift.

Tanner pulled away from the side of the pavement when Carly was finally in the car and began her journey to their first destination of the day "We're heading to the high school first to speak to some of the girls who may have some answers to help us with a few of our cases." Tanner told her as Carly glanced up from the file and over to Tanner.

The high school was a place she had not been too for so long. The last time she had been at there was when she first graduated and even then she had been too drunk to remember the rest of what happened that day. It was going to be a weird experience for her to revisit the school that she spent years at preparing herself for college and this very moment right now of becoming a detective.

Carly was about to respond back when she felt her phone vibrate and the sound of it beeping in her pale pink blazer pocket filled the silent car. The heat began to rise to Carly's cheeks when she realised how improper this might have looked to not have turned her phone on silent or even off when they were on a matter like this.

For someone in Tanner's position, having your phone on and up loud was not a problem because if something serious was to happen, they would need to be contacted immediately. Yet for Carly who was only now starting out in the industry and would not be contacted in emergency, there was no need for her phone to be in use during her shift hours.

If it wasn't already awkward enough for Carly who was already nervous about her day of investigations with Tanner and having her cell phone go off once already, it was only going to get worse for her when another beep sound went off, signalling she had received yet another message.

"Feel free to answer that, Miss Monroe," Tanner informed her as she approached a set of traffic lights and stopped the car when they turned to red "It must be fairly important."

Sheepishly smiling at her lieutenant, she placed her hand into her pocket and retrieved her cell which was lighting up with two new messages. The first message on her lock screen was from Holbrook and the other from the long number she had yet to put into her contacts as being Jason, someone she had ended up messaging earlier that morning thanking him again for last night and ever since they had not stopped messaging each other all morning.

Something she knew if Tanner found out about, she would not be very pleased in the slightest that Carly was going against her word.

Chewing on her bottom lip, she unlocked her phone and went onto the first message from Holbrook. He was telling her that he was missing her presence in the office already and hoped that Tanner was being too harsh with her. This somewhat made Carly smile because although she had thrown him out of her apartment so harshly the other night, he could still act normal and forgive her like it was no big deal, but also they had a few jokes in the past week about Tanner.

Typing out a quick reply to him, she hit the send button and felt her heart beat begin to quicken in her chest when she knew that Jason's message was next. She hoped and prayed that Tanner did not lean across and read the message from him; thank god she had not added his name into her contacts yet or Tanner would be questioning her instead of the girls at the school.

If Holbrook's text had made Carly partially smile, then Jason's definitely made her lips grow into a playful grin that she just couldn't knock off. She hated how easily he could make her feel things she had not felt since she was eighteen when she had first started to develop feelings for him. It was so easy for them to just talk and act like what they were doing was completely fine, when it reality it was so wrong and should not be happening so easily. If Carly could stop and just move on, then she would have but it was going to take more than self-motivation to get over Jason, as she had been proving the past few weeks.

Her thoughts were cut short when Tanner parked against the curb outside the front entrance of the school and turned off the engine. Carly could already feel Tanner's eyes trailing over her making her feel more uncomfortable and nervous than she had originally been feeling. She definitely knew that her reply to Jason would have to wait until she had a spare moment away from Tanner.

Locking her phone and switching it onto silent, she laid it back into her blazer pocket and finally turned her head to look at Tanner, the playful grin she had on her face from before was replaced with a faint smile as Tanner held out her hand to take back the file Carly had been looking after on the ride over here.

Releasing what Tanner was wanting, Carly handed back the file and took hold of her purse in her hands instead as Tanner pulled the keys out of the ignition and glanced around at their surroundings.

Copying her actions, Carly glanced out the front wind screen and it wasn't until then that she realised that the students had not gone into class yet, a large group of students were scattered around the front of the school talking in their friendship circles or making their way inside the school through the double doors at the front of the building.

Carly remembered how she used to enter the school grounds every morning with her own friends, Kate and Annie right from freshmen year up until senior year. However for the majority of senior year every Monday morning, she would be dropped off outside the school by Jason or one of his friends, just before the school bell went off after a weekend of mayhem.

The sound of Tanner opening up her car door was enough for Carly to be pulled back into reality as she realised that her life was way different now and she wasn't the same teenager anymore. She had to make an impression, a good impression that would please Tanner and get her back in her 'good books' like Holbrook had joked about.

As Carly climbed out of the unmarked police vehicle, she felt the chatter of a group of boys no older than sixteen quieten down and their heads immediately turned in her direction. She could feel their burning eyes on her body and she became very self-conscious at how they were looking at her, like she was a piece of meat they couldn't wait to get their hands on and eat. She had forgotten about how uncontrollable teenage boy's hormones could be.

Rolling her eyes at their behaviour, she flattened down the bottom of her black mini bodycon dress and went to join Tanner round the front of the school entrance, trying to ignore the stares that were being sent her way as her heels hit against the concrete.

Once Carly had come to stand beside her, Tanner gave Carly a questionable look, her eyes rolling towards the group of teenage boys in the corner of the front and back onto Carly who could only give Tanner a reassuring smile to try ease away from whatever the hell this situation was.

Thankfully it worked as Tanner began to lead the way up to the doors of the school in which Carly followed behind her, ready to go inside and begin their first investigations of the day. She was definitely feeling more excited now than nervous, she had missed this side of training the past few days and she couldn't wait to try impress Tanner again, which would hopefully be rewarding for Carly if the lieutenants opinion changed for the better about the young woman.

When the school secretary in the office had gotten them visitor badges and led them over to the room they could conduct the interviews in, Tanner closed the door behind them as Carly laid her bag down on the desk in the room and turned to face her with her bum leant against the table, knowing that Tanner was going to give her some pep talk for what was about to happen.

"So as you know we have many open cases, somewhat have relations to others, I have already questioned Alison and my next move is to start on the other girls who are in her close circle. The first interview of the day is with Aria Montgomery," Tanner explained and Carly could already feel the lump forming in her throat at the mention of the teens name, she could not afford to mess up her chances on the force again by knowing someone else on the case, she was really going to have to try so hard this time "I want to know if she has any information on any of the matters but also Ezra Fitz. Remember that day back at his apartment; we both picked up on how weird he was acting, maybe he has something to hide and maybe Aria will be able to help pin us in the right direction."

Carly could not even form words at the information Tanner was telling her about for the investigation and the case. All the trainee detective could do was nod back in agreement and understanding because she wasn't so sure anymore if she could go through another interview with someone she knew so well and have them slip up that they know each other, because she was convinced Tanner would not let her off so lightly this time.

"I would appreciate it if I could lead this interview by myself but I will allow you to step in and ask some questions when prompted or where you feel most appropriate," Tanner suggested with a smirk "how does that sound?"

Was Tanner really allowing her to make her own input after what happened last time? Was this the test?

Ignoring whatever doubts and uncertainty's she had, she forced a smile onto her plump lips and nodded back at her boss "Sound's great, thank you Lieutenant Tanner."

The sound of the office door opening caused Tanner's head to turn towards it and Carly's eyes to roll over to it as it was pulled back and the two female members of the Montgomery family stood behind it. Ella Montgomery's eyes widened a little when she saw Carly stood there and a small smile grew on the woman's face when she saw her, before she ushered Aria to go inside first and Carly awkwardly smiled back at the two.

"Good morning ladies, thank you for joining us today," Tanner welcomed them in as she pointed down to the two seats in front of where her and Carly were for them to sit, now they were both in the room and the door was shut behind them "sorry to have to do this before school starts but we are very busy today."

As the two Montgomery's took their seats without opening their mouths, Carly moved over to the side of the desk and instead stood up straight whilst Tanner leant against the desk space where Carly had been previously and pulled out a small note pad and pen from her suit pocket to write down the answers she was hoping to receive.

"So when did you first meet Mr Fitz?" Tanner asked as Aria quickly glanced across at her mother uneasily.

"Umm..." She began looking back up at Tanner and Carly "First day of class junior year."

"Your principle stated that to his knowledge you engaged in an intimate relationship with Mr Fitz after he was no longer a teacher at the school…" Tanner informed Aria who was looking sheepishly at her mother for support in which was quickly granted.

"I'm sorry what does any of this have to do with the incident at the Marin house last night?" Ella, Aria's mother, questioned the two detectives confused as to why these off topic questions were being thrown at her daughter.

"We have several open cases right now and it's helpful to explore possible connections." Tanner answered truthfully.

"What's the possible connection here?" Ella responded looking between her daughter and Tanner.

"I can't say."

"You can't say or you don't know?"

"Mrs Montgomery if you would prefer to conclude this interview that is your right to do so, I will ask a judge…"

"No, no," Ella quickly interjected as Carly watched on awkwardly knowing that this situation was one she hoped would hurry up and get over with immediately "It's ok, let's just get it over with."

Tanner nodded her head and glanced over at Carly as her prompt for her to answer the next question. Uncomfortably, Carly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear nervously as she thought back to the case file she had been studying the past few days and the report she had been building, there was definitely useful information on there what would be a great aid right now to continue the interview and prove to Tanner she was right for this job.

"Were you aware of Mr Fitz seeing other students socially," Carly began as Aria and Ella's eyes trailed over to their fellow family friend, both of them still feeling weird to see Carly back in town but on the side of the law enforcement now firing questions at them like they were suspects, it was enough to put any form of strain on a friendship "Students like Shana Fring."

"What are you saying?" Aria asked in surprise that Carly, the girl she used to look up to her whole life was suggesting something so out of the ordinary and caused offence to not only Ezra but her also, it was enough for a massive frown to fall on her face.

"Is it possible that Mr Fitz had intimate relations with other students?" Tanner continued for Carly once she noticed the look Aria was giving Carly.

"How would she know that?" Ella quizzed as she pointed a finger at her daughter, just as confused that these two women were attacking her daughter, as well as being surprised at Carly's behaviour.

"No!" Aria defended.

"Do you ever recall seeing Mr Fitz interacting with Shana…"

Before Tanner could continue her theory, Aria snapped back in stopping her from doing so "He didn't serial date students," She began annoyed as she glanced over at her mother and back at the two "He wasn't some creep that was prowling the school hallway's hitting on girls."

"Aria," Tanner spoke softly as Carly glanced to the ground awkwardly knowing she had been the cause of this frustration from the Montgomery woman "There just questions."

The sound of the school bell ringing signalling that first period was about to begin caused the interview to be concluded for the day. Both Ella and Aria rose to their feet, ready to get out of there and fast away from the tension and the interrogation Aria was receiving from Tanner and shockingly, Carly too.

"Thank you for your time Miss and Mrs Montgomery," Tanner told them as she closed her note pad and tucked it away inside her jacket alongside the pen before standing up "We'll be in touch if we need any more information."

"Thank you." Ella replied back for both her and her daughter, as Aria was already storming her way out of the office room and wanting to get to class so she didn't have to hear any more questions about Ezra.

Ella began calling and jogging after Aria when the teenager had pulled open the door and marched out of the office in a huff leaving Tanner and Carly left in the office space. Tanner shook her head and a smirk played on the corner of the woman's lips at how badly Aria had reacted to that, which confirmed her suspicions of there being something more behind the ex-teacher and students relationship.

Carly on the other hand did not find it amusing whatsoever, she felt horrible and awkward like she had just caused a massive rift between the Montgomery's and herself. How was she even going to face them again, especially at the party that night that she had said she would go along to but maybe her Dad was right, maybe she should just stay away after what just happened. Although she had wanted to go to the party, to enjoy herself, to prove to her Dad that she could cope and that he could 100% trust her. She needed to apologise before time ran out.

"Well that went well." Tanner said to Carly who could only fake a smile back at her, not knowing whether she was being sarcastic or serious. "I need to go make a phone call and speak to the principal, feel free to wait by the school office until I return."

"Sure." Carly watched as Tanner wondered out of the office and down the hall, once she saw her out of sight, she quickly picked up her bag and the best she could in her heels, jogged out of the office also in search of Ella and Aria.

She needed to apologise.

It didn't take long for Carly to track down the two Montgomery women, who from her point of view looked like they were in a deep discussion in the middle of the hall, which Carly could already presume was about what went on in the office during the interview.

Taking a deep breath, Carly came to a stop beside them as both pairs of eyes shifted onto her and it wasn't until then she realised how nervous she actually felt about this "Hi Ella," Carly said in a quiet tone as she glanced over at them both "Aria."

Ella forced a smile at the direction of the young woman whilst Aria remained silent, only glaring down at the floor like she wanted to the ground to swallow her up due to the mood she was in; Carly could relate just as much but with how guilty she felt.

"Listen I am so sorry for what happened in there," Carly informed them "I didn't know Tanner was going to act like that and to be honest I was just doing my job. I was not there to scare either of you, especially you Aria."

"We didn't except it to happen the way it did but I guess it will just be something we get used to, seeing you work for the Rosewood police." Ella replied back looking at Carly, whilst Aria still kept quiet.

"I know and as I said I was just doing my job, I never went in there with the idea of attacking you Aria. I was just trying to impress Tanner. I hope you can forgive me." Carly begged with hopeful eyes as she looked between them.

"Of course we forgive you." Ella told her with a slight giggle as Carly breathed a sigh of relief and smiled back at the mother, but she wasn't so sure yet if Aria had forgave her just yet.

"Thank you."

"It's no problem," Ella smiled at the girl as Aria turned to leave to go to class and get away from Carly "We'll see you tonight at the party?"

"You still want me there?" She asked confused that she thought she had blown it.

"Of course we do Carly."

"Then I'll be there."

Ella grinned at the young woman in front of her and opened up her arms for a hug, in which Carly walked into and hugged the woman back, glad that she had fixed things up with Ella at least. She knew Aria was going to have to take some work on but she hoped the teenager would resolve things, especially when Carly saved her ass the other day.

Pulling out of the embrace and bidding Ella goodbye, Carly spun on her heel and made her way towards the office where she had arranged to meet Tanner. As she passed through the hallway where students were busy making their way to class or retrieving books out of their lockers, Carly's eyes caught onto someone else's, someone else who was staring down at her and had been looking at her the whole time.

The smile she had on her face from speaking with Ella had vanished almost immediately when she saw Noel Kahn, Eric Kahn's young brother looking across at her from outside one of the classrooms. He had that kind of smirk on his face that screamed mischief and trouble, the kind of trouble that Carly recognised a lot from his older brother and the same smile she saw on his face last night when he had sparked up conversation with her.

From the look on Noel's face, she could only guess that he remembered her from her teen years when Carly had come to some of Eric's parties and was there the night when the recording of the tape began. She also guessed that it was the whole reason he was staring at her in the first place and she bet he couldn't wait to go run to his brother and tell him that he had saw her that day. No doubt it would amuse Eric.

"Carly!"

A familiar voice called from down the hall way, causing the young woman to stop in her tracks along the hall, her eyes and head to snap away from Noel before she turned her body round to be met by with the sound of the voice that had called her.

Aria came from down the hall and slowly ended her paces when she stood opposite Carly, a hurt expression on the teenagers face as she looked across at Carly who turned her head back to see if Noel was still looking. But once she had, he was nowhere to be seen and part of her was thankful that Aria had come running to find her.

"Look I'm sorry for giving you the silent treatment back there and acting like a brat." Aria apologised as Carly spun her head back round to face the girl.

"No it's fine, I understand." Carly replied back.

"It's just weird trying to come to terms with you working for the cops now and joining in with the integration," She began "Especially when it's aimed at me and about Ezra, Why is Tanner targeting him? Does she really think he has done something wrong in all of this?"

Carly sighed in annoyance, she hated how she was stuck in the middle of this and couldn't help Aria like the way she wanted to because of her job "I can't tell you that."

"Are you forgetting about how close we were? I looked up to you as a sister."

"I know Aria and I still feel the same," Carly defended herself, not liking where this conversation was going one bit "You can trust me, Aria. I'm not the bad guy here."

"No but you never said goodbye," She told her and Carly swallowed harshly knowing what was coming next "You just left Rosewood without even saying goodbye."

"I didn't have a choice." Carly snapped back at her, not wanting to have to go into her past or a heated row with Aria in the middle of the school hallway.

"Even if you didn't, you could have just called or something at least, except you didn't and you just turned up that night at the station three years later."

"As I said," Carly said through gritted teeth trying to hold her emotions in place "I didn't have a choice. Can't you see I'm trying here? I'm working on a case where most people on it, I know personally; don't you think it's hard for me to keep the balance between protecting those I love and working my ass off to solve the crime that you're also involved in?"

Carly ran her fingers over her face in annoyance as she spoke up again in a softer tone that before "I'm trying Aria. Please just let me do my job. I still see you as my little sister, a little sister that needs protecting from whoever this kidnapper is."

It was true. Ever since that day when Aria had been hiding away in Ezra's restroom when Tanner and Carly had turned up at the apartment, Carly knew that Aria wasn't the same girl anymore, she had grown up and been through a lot. She understood why Aria was acting the way she was. Carly deserved whatever abuse was going to be thrown her way for leaving town so suddenly without saying goodbye to anyone.

From what Carly had gathered, Aria must have took it pretty hard by the way she was acting towards Carly and she completely was ok with her throwing dirt at her if it meant she got out the anger she felt.

"I get it you're trying," Aria mused "But I can't help but feel the way I do."

"No it's fine."

"I guess I'll see you tonight." Aria concluded before she brushed past Carly and headed for her class, a class what started around a few minutes ago and it wasn't until then that Carly realised that the hallways around her where empty, there was no students insight.

Except from one figure lurking behind the lockers, one person that Carly would have least likely to see after the confrontation with Aria then. But they had witnessed it, every single word of it and it could only confirm the suspicions that they had about the trainee detective working on their force.

Tanner had seen it all and Carly was definitely not getting off lightly this time.

* * *

 **Author note: I am so sorry I didn't update yesterday! But here is the next part which I hope you did enjoy reading and cannot wait for more.**

 **A little piece of Jason in this part again too.**

 **Special thanks to RHatch89, Stilinski-McCallBros, Shh, HOAfan8509 and yams14 for your support since the last chapter.**

 **Feel free to leave me a review with your thoughts.**

 **Thanks so much again for reading xx**


	21. Déjá Vu

**Déjá Vu:**

It felt like that day all over again. It was like the same day when Carly had received that phone call from the Rosewood Police Department one late afternoon after a few days of moving back to Rosewood. It was similar to the same day when she had been sitting in the foyer of the station waiting to hear her verdict and had been so anxious to find out what was going to happen.

Only this time it wasn't whether or not she had got the job of her dreams. This time it was to find out whether or not the performance she had given so far and the incidents what had been occurring recently, was enough to forget about and move on, to allow her to stay on the force and continuing with the work she had been involved in.

Just like that day, her foot tapped anxiously against the marble floor as it went in synch with the pounding of her heart in her chest and her eyes kept going from one side of the room where Tanner's office door was shut but she could see the Lieutenant and Detective deep in conversation and back over to the floor where she tried to calm herself down, as well as pray for the best possible outcome.

She could not believe this was happening, partly because she did not want it to be real and hoped it was some nightmare that she would wake up to after and would be used as an aid to guide into the right direction of distancing herself from everyone she knew.

However she was now faced with what she had been trying to cover up the past few weeks of being in Rosewood and working on the force. She had been trying to hide just how close she used to be to certain residents of Rosewood and who she was still in communication with.

She understood how wrong and inappropriate this must have looked from Tanner and the rest of the forces point of view. In some way's she has been doing no wrong. She had not shared any of the information from the case to anyone outside of those who had been assigned to working on it and even if anyone would ask her to, she would still keep her mouth shut because she knew how confidential and important this sector was.

But she knew why Tanner had been so angry and disappointed with Carly. It was all down to the fact that Carly had told her number of times that she had no involvement with the people on the case yet she had shown that today when talking to Aria and Carly guessed that Tanner had been very observing when witnessing how the Montgomery woman acted around the trainee detective. The warm smiles, friendly conversations and embraces within the hallway and office where a clear sign that they knew Carly more than just being someone who worked for the police.

All she could was use that glimmer of hope that she had within her to wish that she would come out of this situation she was stuck in ok and that her job was going to be secure, that this was just another hiccup and that Tanner would forget about it, that she would give her another chance to prove herself and Carly would do the next steps to make sure that something like this would never happen again. She would have to be so careful.

It was hard though. She meant it when she had told Aria that finding the balance between the two; protecting the people she cared about and dealing with the case in the best way, were two very difficult things to handle when in her situation. Maybe she should have just been honest with Tanner in the first place and told her that she wasn't comfortable working on a case that she could be involved in when it came back to tracing the year when Alison first went missing.

But if she did that, then she would have to speak up about her year, her past, she would have to tell Tanner and probably Holbrook also what went on that year, she could even be treated as a suspect due to the fact that Alison and her never got on and she might even have got into trouble for withholding information that could be helpful. She could not afford to let her past come out. She would not allow it.

The sound of her phone vibrating in her pocket broke her out of her worries, as she reached into her blazer and pulled out her cell phone device. Another text message from Jason popped up on the screen, a sigh escaped her lips when she saw the other messages he had sent to her earlier on in the day and she had not got back to yet, partially because she didn't want to give Tanner more reason to get rid of her, but also she just didn't know if she should be even communicating with Jason at all. She was just making it hard for her to try to get over him by keep going back.

Or maybe she was just reading into things too much, maybe Jason was trying to look out for her after last night after how shaken up she was after Eric and he was just being friendly to her, there was no feelings involved.

She had to just drop this whole Jason thing for now when she had more important things going on, like trying to save her dream job from slipping out of her hands.

Around twenty minutes later, just like that day when Carly had been sat in the foyer of the station waiting for Tanner to call her through to tell her whether or not she had got the job, Tanner's assistant approached Carly from her desk in the main reception area.

"Miss Monroe," She lady called catching her attention instantly as Carly quickly rose to her feet edgily "Lieutenant Tanner would like to see you now."

Carly's heart began to pound harder in her chest when she took in what the woman was telling her and she could already feel herself dreading the worst possible outcome of the matter. She really hoped that there was someone out there that day on her side and that this would work out. She could not stand to lose her dream job. It was something that she didn't want to even imagine happen.

Giving Tanner's assistant a sheepish smile back, Carly spun round on her feet and gradually began to make her way over to the office. Once she had reached the door, her hand timidly reached out to grab hold of the handle so she could go inside and it was then that she realised how badly her hands were shaking.

Pulling them away from the door, she wiggled her fingers and closed her eyes, before she took a deep breath in and exhaled out a few seconds later, trying to calm herself down before she was faced with the verdict of Tanner's decision, knowing that this could make or break her future career.

Carefully she turned the handle on the door and pushed it upon, when the door steadily opened up and she stepped into the office area, not once did Tanner look up from where her eyes were focused on the centre of her desk, her elbows rested against the wooden surface and her fingers laced together. It was like Tanner could not even tolerate to look at her and Carly didn't even want to think her reaction would be like if she had done something much worse.

Lowering her head in shame, she closed the door behind herself and took a seat in one of the two chairs in front of the desk. Once she was seated, Tanner finally rolled her eyes over to look at the young uneasy woman opposite her. The Lieutenant let out a sigh and took her elbows off the desk, ready to begin the discussion that she was about to start.

"We both know why this has happened, Miss Monroe," She began as she picked up some paperwork off her desk and slipped them inside a folder, Carly watched her every move as she did so "I'm disappointed to say the least that this keeps happening and my trust in you is on a very thin line. When I employ someone and assign someone to work alongside me and others on a case that is so important and crucial, I expect that everyone on it follows the correct procedures and rules to make sure that the case is being dealt with professionally, honestly and has the outcome of being a success. For you Miss Monroe to make me suspect that you're not following that guideline makes me doubt whether or not a position on my team is right for you."

"Lieutenant Tanner, please let me expl-."

"No Miss Monroe, I have not finished talking," Tanner cut off Carly before she could even defend herself "In the past couple of weeks, I have been monitoring your performance on my team. Your work ethic and work inside the station is outstanding, I have no problems with how you behave here, yet when we are on any form of outings, it's when the problems arise, problems such as interrupting my interviews, acting weird around people we interview such as Ezra Fitz, you having some connection to people who are linked to the case such as Aria and even Alison herself, which suggests to me that maybe you're not being honest with us. You're misusing your position on this force and giving out information to those who want it such as Aria."

Carly was so sure that Tanner was expecting her to bow her head in shame and make up some web of lies to try make Tanner rethink her opinion of her. But Carly knew that if she appeared weak or guilty in some way then that line of trust Tanner was on about, would snap completely.

Tanner needed to know that Carly had not been misusing her positon on the force to provide information for others. She would never even do that. The only times that Carly was even with contact with most of the people involved in the case was when she was on these meetings with Tanner and didn't even communicate with them hardly outside of work. It was just like a base of bad luck that she kept running into them when on duty.

"But that aside," Tanner continued breaking Carly out of her thoughts and her face to light up a bit in hopefulness "I can't just let you go when you have so much potential and could be a brilliant addition to lead a team in the future."

Carly scoffed in disbelief, she couldn't believe what she was hearing Tanner say when she had been so convinced Tanner did not want her around anymore. This was so surreal for her to take in.

"You're serious?" Carly gasped in shock.

"Yes," Tanner answered as she got up from her desk and took the file she had previously been holding with her before she wondered over to her office door and stared out into the main foyer "You have your partner to thank for that."

Carly leaped up from her chair in surprise, adrenaline from her anxiety still trying to work its way down as she turned to face who Tanner was looking at through the glass. She could see a few cops standing around talking to each other, as well as Tanner's assistant stood at the reception desk but the person stood beside her in particular caught Carly's eye.

A smile grew on her lips when she saw him stood there, flicking through a file and occasionally looking up to chat to the woman at the desk, his usual charming smile present on his face and it was only then that she realised she had not seen him since that night at her apartment, yet he still cared about her and wanted her around enough to save her from being kicked off the team.

She had so much to thank him for. How could someone be so incredibly sweet to her? And how could she have treated them so awfully by just kicking them out of her apartment like she had.

"There is one condition though, Miss Monroe," Tanner told her breaking her gaze away from the window and back onto the Lieutenant who was stood at the door a few inches away "I'm going to have to temporary suspend you from any investigations outside of the station until I can learn to trust you again or we solve this case, this means you're going to be spending more time in the office doing your usual work and helping out my assistant on the front desk, which will also result in you being qualified a lot slower than intended."

"I understand." Carly replied back lowering her head slightly in disappointment, but she tried to not let it get her down since she still had a job after all and one man in particular to thank.

"Very well," Tanner pulled open the door and instructed Carly to follow her out of her office, in which the younger woman walked behind her as they entered the foyer "You'll start by helping my assistant to register a new cop we've got joining us and any other tasks that she assigns you."

"Ok," Carly nodded as Tanner was about to walk away "Thank you, Lieutenant Tanner."

The woman gave Carly a look, before she fully turned away and walked out of the station, two cops following behind her as she did so and Carly breathed a sigh of relief when Tanner had officially left the station, signalling that her hell was over and done with for good, she would not allow that to happen again.

Although she was angry at herself for letting her past affect her future, something she hoped would not happen and she was being pushed back from being able to fully become a detective, she was still so grateful she had her position on the force and had another chance to prove herself, because she was sure as hell going to need it.

Running her fingers through her hair, she turned her head to look at the reception desk where she knew she would be able to find Tanner's assistant, however she was nowhere to be seen. So instead of trying to track her down or wait for her to get back, Carly quickly began to make her way to the one person she needed to thank for all of this and the whole reason why she was still being able to live out her dream.

Her smile grew even bigger on her face when she saw that the light in the office was on and that the door was open, meaning that she could already see them stood in the middle of the office with their head down buried in a file that they were intently reading at.

Jogging inside the room, she didn't even give them enough chance to stop what they were doing or even acknowledge her presents before she quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and jumped up to embrace him closely.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Carly repeated in his ear as she held onto him tightly and she could feel him press his hands down onto her hips before he gently pulled her away, their faces meeting for the first time in a couple of days and already he was holding one of his famous mischievous grins.

"What do I owe the pleasure of having an attractive young woman throw herself on me?" Holbrook joked as he laid down the file onto the table and turned back to face her.

"You know what," She laughed as she hit his arm playfully before quieting down the laughter, she really had missed his humour the last few days "Thank you though, seriously. You saved my ass in there, I don't even know what you did or said to get her to keep me on the team, but it worked. So thank you, I really owe you more than ever now."

"You don't have to worry about that. I just spoke the truth."

"You've always got my back though," Carly replied as she watched him walk over to the filing cabinets in the corner of the room "I'm beginning to hope this isn't going to become a regular occurrence, you know me getting into trouble and you pulling me out of it because I'm beginning to wonder if maybe that bad book that you said Tanner has, actually does exist."

"I'm pretty sure if it did, that you would be the only one in it." He teased back as she rolled her eyes playfully and folded her arms over her chest.

Carly was about to shoot some joke back, when a knocking at the door stopped her from doing so and the pair glanced over at who it was. Unfortunately it happened to be Tanner's assistant who had broken up the conversation between the two which sucked for Carly as she wanted to fire something back at him for mocking her.

"Miss Monroe, I need your assistance please."

"Sure." Carly gave Holbrook a teasing grin as he was already looking back at her with a smirk before she began to follow the lady out of the office and over to the reception. Before she stepped out of the door way, she turned her head back around and whispered another 'thanks' back to him, reminding him just how grateful she was for what he did to make Tanner keep her.

Once she had come back to the reception desk, Tanner's assistant had laid out some paperwork for Carly to use when the new cop was going to show up to grab his schedule and other important bits he would need to start his new job.

As Tanner's assistant had talked Carly through some important points and advised her of what to do, the new cop walked through the station door and approached the desk where Carly was bent over, looking over the papers whilst Tanner's assistant was dealing with a phone call that had just come in.

"Uh Hi, I'm here to register for cop training programme." The guy told Carly once he was stood on the other side of the desk.

"Sure," Carly replied back as she took hold of the forms in her hand and finally lifted her head up to look at him, a smile forming on her lips when she saw the guy in front of her, not much older than a high schooler with light brown swept back hair, blue eyes and a tall frame, she knew this kid from somewhere before, it had to be when she studying the case "Toby right?"

"Uh yeah."

"Hi, I'm Carly Monroe," She introduced herself like he would know who she was and then mentally face palmed when she realised the look of confusion on his face "I'm kind of friend's with your girlfriend, Spencer. How is she?"

"She's good." He replied simply as she nodded her head back at him and handed him the papers, as well as a pen so that he could sign the documents.

She intrusted him what areas he needed to sign before he did so and handed her back the pen. Taking the pen from him, she tossed into one of the stationary pots and took the papers back from him. She quickly stapled the papers together and laid them on top of the folder that held all the documents for the new cops that were starting at the station after their school training sessions. Once she had done that, she moved over to a little box on the side of the desk that held some slips of paper inside and she located Toby's name amongst them.

"There you go," Carly said as she glanced back up to look at him and passed him over his slip, that was had his schedule for his classes "Hopefully I'll be seeing you on the team soon."

"Yeah I hope so," Toby replied back and for the first time returned the smile back to Carly "Great meeting you."

"You too." She replied back as he turned on his heel and headed for the exit of the station.

* * *

After helping out Tanner's assistant some more with some admin tasks and then going back to her lonely office, where detective Holbrook had been called away somewhere else, she continued with the rest of her report that was due in on Monday, her next shift at the station for Tanner to read through and possibly use to help with the case. Another great opportunity to try get back on her good side after what had happened that week.

She was so grateful when Tanner's assistant came through into the office letting her know that she could leave the station now and that her shift had ended. Carly had never felt so relieved to be going home for the weekend, where she could go have a good time tonight at the engagement party and then could relax for the rest of the weekend whilst finishing the last of her report, as well as making any changes to a few pieces. Also she was pretty sure she was going to make the next week at work, the best week she could for herself to try to prove to Tanner that she had made the right decision by keeping her on her team. She had a lot to work hard for.

After her shift had ended, she climbed into her car and stopped off at the local pizza place to get a take away pizza that she could eat whilst getting ready for the party, since she was pretty hungry and had not eaten since breakfast this morning. She had been way too nervous to eat at lunch time after what happened with Tanner.

Once she had got home, she quickly stripped out of the outfit she had been wearing that day for work and slipped on her ivory satin robe over her underwear whilst she ate her pizza and decided what the hell she was going to wear for the party tonight. Once she had eaten, she jumped in the shower and it wasn't long before she was stood in the middle of her bedroom staring down at one dress on the centre of her bed that she was considering wearing.

It was a plain white figure flattering bodycon dress that came up to the middle of her thigh, it had a v-neckline which shew off a small amount of cleavage, applique flower feature to the top of the dress, an open back and thin straps. It was a dress she had bought a little while back before she had even returned to Rosewood, a dress she had bought in New York on an impulse buy when she had just wanted to treat herself to something nice and thought that it could be the perfect dress for the party tonight since she wanted to make a good impression to the guests since she was pretty sure most of them had not seen her since she was last in Rosewood three years ago.

Biting down on her bottom lip, she wondered over to her dressing table to start on her hair and makeup trying to calm the nerves she was feeling about seeing everyone again. She hoped that everyone would act normal around her and not act like her sudden exit was dramatic as it sounded. She decided to straighten her hair with a centre parting before applying her usual makeup routine, instead adding some bright shimmery eyeshadow to the corners of her eyes, some darker shadow in her crease and adding a light pink lipstick to her lips.

Once she had finished with her hair and makeup, sprayed some of her favourite perfume on her body and grabbed the black clutch bag she was going to be taking with her, she finally slipped on the dress she had set out for herself. Going over to her mirror, she laid her hands down onto her stomach area and flattened it down, just like she always did when she dressed up and knew that there was going to be watchful eyes, especially in a place like Rosewood. She just hoped that no one offered her a drink or questioned her about her going away that night so suddenly because they were definitely things that triggered off her uneasy feeling.

Smiling to herself a little, she turned back round on her heel and went over to her blazer what was hanging up behind her door. She slipped her fingers inside one of the pockets and brought out her cell phone. Her chest tightened a little when she saw the messages on her lock screen that she had gotten about from earlier on in the day. Something she needed to sort out before she left.

As she tucked her hair behind her ear and went back over her bed to take a seat on it, another message popped up on her screen. At first she was expecting it to be from the person that she had not yet replied to but was surprised when she saw that it was from an email address.

Unlocking her phone and taking a seat down on her bed, she clicked on the new messages she had received from the address. Her heart sank slightly when she read over the message she received. It was sent from Ella Montgomery's email and said that the engagement party that they were hosting tonight, was actually now cancelled.

This left Carly feeling confused because she had no idea why it would have been cancelled at such short notice when she presumed everyone would then have been getting ready like she was or thinking about heading down to the Brew to attend. Somehow she could not help but have a bad feeling about was going on. She wanted to text her or ring Ella to make sure she was ok but if something had happened, she did not want to interfere when it was none of her business, so instead she decided to wait till she heard the full story from Ella herself.

She was slightly gutted that she was going able to go out that night, she needed to go have some fun and hopefully bump into someone she use to know for a catch up, she needed to just enjoy herself for one night after the week she had. It was also a chance for her to prove to her Dad that he could trust her to go out in social situations where there was going to be alcohol and people getting drunk around her, yet she did not touch a drop or allow herself to fall back into that world. She guessed that she would have to wait another time to gain his trust fully.

As she clicked off the email, she went onto the other conversations on her screen, some of them unread messages and others that she was waiting replies back for. Her thumb hesitated over one conversation in particular, the conversation that she had no clicked on or contributed to since earlier that morning, guilt crept up her chest in different ways, partly because she felt bad for not getting back to him and just leaving him hanging whilst she had the day from hell, yet there was that part that knew how deep she was getting herself involved with them and wasn't even trying to stop herself from letting it happen.

What the hell was she even doing?

Shaking her head in despair, she pulled up Brooke's phone number and clicked on the call button, knowing that if she spoke to her friend and was reminded of how getting close to Jason again was bad, then she would stop herself from wanting to click on that conversation and talk to him the rest of the night.

"Hi…" Brooke's voice beamed on the other end of the phone "You've reached Brooke. Sorry I can't come to the phone but feel free to leave a message and I'll try get back to you."

Carly groaned in frustration when the pre-recorded voicemail message rang out in her ear, before she pulled the phone away and went to the next person she knew would be a bigger help in guiding her in the right direction. He was the one who had done so much for her, made her see right from wrong, helped her get back her life before it crashed down before her and made sure that she was safe.

But just like Brooke, John was unable to reach due to him now starting his night shift at the hospital, in the ER department, where he would return home the next morning and go straight to bed, before he would have to be up again for his next shift. It was never ending cycle for him, something Carly had got use to when growing up because her time spent with her Dad was always limited due to his work hours and even now it was something that she was going to have to deal with when she was in situations like this.

However, something clicked in her head, something that she had come to realise whilst she had been waiting for both of them to answer their phones, so that she could stop herself from doing what she wanted. It was exactly that. They were stopping her from doing what she wanted. They were stopping her from going back to the guy that from other people's eyes had turned her world upside down and got her into trouble. Yet in her eyes, he had only brought out the person that she was and made her feel so many different emotions, that she could not explain how good he made her feel even in the darkest of times.

Over the past three years, she had been listening to her Dad; go over and over again, like brain washing her into staying away from Jason when she came back to Rosewood and not getting in touch with him whatsoever when she was studying in New York because her Dad believed her had ruined her. Of course, Carly did not agree with that. She blamed herself for what happened because it had been her own reckless actions that had caused the drama back then. It was nothing Jason ever pressured or persuaded her to do. In fact, he had been one of the few, who was always looking out for her and making sure that she was safe. Just like John wanted for his daughter, for her to be safe.

She finally realised that she had to do something for herself, she had to do what she wanted and act on how she felt instead of what her father or Brooke wanted for her. It was her life. She had the right to do what she wanted. She wasn't some little girl anymore who followed orders from her Dad. She was twenty one years old and pretty capable of taking care of herself. If she made mistakes, then she could live with them and learn from them. If Jason was going to be a mistake for her, then she could live with that because at least she tried to make things work and act on the way she felt, as opposed to letting her Dad control her life and force her to not come to terms with how she really felt.

If Carly liked Jason, then she was sure as hell not going to hide it from herself anymore, she was going to be honest with how she felt and she was definitely not going to listen to her Dad's advice about staying away from him. Because she liked him. She still liked him so much. She hated how he made her feel and how she would do anything for him, yet she was not going to stop herself from falling further for him, because he was the one she had allowed herself in her senior year to fall for despite the guys who had been interested in her, it had been Jason DiLaurentis, part time college student, full time bad boy, to sweep her off her feet and change her, some say for the worse, but maybe it was what she needed to experience something new, to make her see the real world.

Clicking off her call list, she went back onto her conversation with Jason and quickly typed out a message to him, a mischievous smirk playing on her face as she did so, nothing or no one stopping her from doing exactly what she wanted this time. It felt so good to be able to do what she wanted without her Dad's input into her life. She knew he meant no harm, but he had to let his daughter grow up and make her own decisions, whatever the consequence.

Because Carly was finally allowing herself to face her feelings about Jason and she was pretty sure there were no regrets this time.

She had wanted him. She wanted Jason.

* * *

 **Author note: Hello guys! Thank you for taking the time out to read this part and my story!**

 **I want to say a special thank you to Rhatch89 for reviewing the last part.**

 **UPDATE: So I am going to be stopping the two parts a week update schedule. Firstly because I pre-write all my parts and I like to be five parts in front of the part that I have last uploaded, so that when I come to my upload day I have something all ready written for you guys to upload and then I do not lag behind or end up not updating that week. So I am going to take the time to write a few more parts before I get back onto that schedule so that I do not lag behind and do not end up updating for you guys. Also because of the lack of reviews and feedback, I just feel like maybe some people aren't having the chance to read two parts in a week and so then end up lagging behind and don't know where the story is going. I don't know? Let me know what you think about that?**

 **Anyway feel free to drop me something to read in regards to the story and this part. I love to hear it.**

 **Thanks so much for reading and your support xx**


	22. Old Foe

**Old Foe:**

"Twice in two days, aren't I lucky?"

Carly felt an uncontrollable smile appear on her lips, when she rolled her eyes back up to the laptop screen in front of her, where she was sat up her dining table in her kitchen/living space of her apartment, the dirty ash blonde with hazily-green coloured eyes stared back at her from the screen, he was dressed in a plain grey short sleeved t-shirt and she could make out the slight muscles in his arms from where his sleeves did not cover, it definitely was not helping her keep herself in control of her feelings right now.

She had promised herself that if she was really going to go through with this video chat with Jason, then she was going to act calm and cool about this. She did not want to come across as a nervous wreck or that she still felt things for him. Although she had no idea why she was even worrying when it was just Jason, the guy who used to look after her, care about her, joke with her and mock her throughout the year they knew one another, if she just acted normal around him, then she was convinced he would be the same and would not make it awkward, even if it was probably more than that.

"You seriously know how to please a girl." Carly smirked back at him.

"Well it just comes natural, you know?"

The pair both lightly laughed at how the conversation between them had already began, somehow it was kind of like old times for both of them, making a joke and then the other following that with some witty phrase to try throw the other off, the past day on text it had been feeling more and more natural between them, that it was definitely becoming real to Carly that this was happening between her and Jason, there was the smallest chance she could turn back if she wanted to until she got in too far with him.

That was if she even wanted to pull herself away from the situation because right now it felt pretty good that she was talking to him, normally like that their past had not been such a big issue as it really was, it was just like they were getting to know each other once again, the new people they had turned into over the past three years.

Jason studied her from his laptop screen in the hotel room he had been staying at the past couple of weeks, something was definitely different about her that night, she looked a lot more dressed up than what she usually was used to seeing her like, of course her appearance and the way she presented herself had changed slightly in the past few years, her usual casual outfits were replaced with more sophisticated looks, yet the way she looked tonight, he knew that appearance was way too formal for just a night in on video chat to him.

"Why are you all dressed up? Are you off somewhere?" He asked trying to figure out why she was looking the way she was. His eyes helplessly trying to stop staring at the one part of her body that he absolutely loved and she had on full display right now.

"Uh no, I was." Carly answered him in a slight disappointed tone.

"What happened?" Jason said with a puzzled expression on his face knowing there was more to the story, as he tried his best to bring his eyes up to meet with hers and not the top half of her body.

"I was going to Ella Montgomery's engagement party but it got cancelled for some unknown reason," She explained as she noticed his eyes flickering down for a second and then back up to her face "I want to find out what happened, but I'm not sure it's my business to ask just yet."

"Oh yeah probably best not to," He replied as his tongue ran across his bottom lip, knowing he was struggling to bite back what he wanted to really say to her about the way she looking that night "You look great though."

Hearing his compliment made her stomach flutter, heat to rise to her cheeks and a dry feeling to settle in her mouth, his compliments always left her speechless because she never knew what to say back to him and just recently she couldn't even muster anything up to say back to him, which was so unlike her as she always use to throw some witty comment back to him when she was a teenager and had gotten super close to him.

"The dress really shows off my favourite part of you."

This time it nearly sent Carly over the edge at what he was telling her, knowing just exactly what he was referring to and he knew that she would understand straight away. Her heart began to pound in her chest at the realisation that there was a possibility that Jason had been checking her out, looking at that one spot on her body that made him weak whenever he got the opportunity to see it or even touch it. She loved knowing that he still appreciated that part of her because it gave her this hope in the back of her mind that maybe he still felt the same too.

Her mind flashed back to that night at her apartment when he had unexpectedly showed up and told her that he wanted the goodbye they never had got. At first she had tried so hard to tell him no and get him to leave, yet her the inner teenage Carly was telling her to take the chance because she never got the opportunity to last time.

She thought about how good his lips had felt on her skin when he had pressed light kisses on her collar bone, up to her shoulder and along her neck. Just like it had that night, she noticed goose bumps erupt over her arms and go down her back, knowing that she was doing everything in her will to not let out a sigh from her lips at how good that had felt that night.

Instead of thanking him, denying it or telling him how she felt about, she moved onto another topic of conversation, wanting to remove the shy and uncontrollable feelings she had felt when he had complimented and told her how she was making him feel right now, because she didn't want to give it easily away about how the old feelings she still felt and she wasn't sure if she could keep control of herself.

"What are you doing out in Philly then?" Carly asked interestedly trying to hide her embarrassment for letting herself drift away for a moment.

"Just trying to sell some places over here for the business, someone's got to keep the business running and make sure it's a success."

Carly knew that he was referring to the real estate business that Jason's parents, Kenneth and Jessica owned together. However with Jessica's death and Kenneth's mind focused on Alison being back in town, Jason was trying his best to manage the business with minimal help and was trying a new business idea to expand further afield.

"I see," Carly nodded as she bit her bottom lip knowing that she was just biting the bullet with these questions but she just wanted to get know him, the new him, better than what she presumed from the night at her apartment "You don't have any plans to come back here then?"

"To be honest, I have no idea," Jason told her as his eyes trailed to the floor like he was in thought "After my mother's death, I swore to myself that would be the last of me in Rosewood, yet you can leave Rosewood, but Rosewood will never leave you."

"I know that feeling," Carly sighed as she shook her head at how similar their situations where "I felt the exact same when I was living in New York. Even though I had left, it didn't stop me from thinking about it every single day and what was going on in that crazy town."

"Exactly," He agreed as he lifted his head back up to look at her with a small smile "There's so much drama in that town, everyone's judging everyone, so many lies and secrets, it just follows you wherever you go."

"Yeah I can see why you wanted to get out."

"And I can see why you did."

Carly felt her eyes flicker down to her lap, a sudden feeling of sadness washing over her like a wave, as she tried so hard to block out when she had left Rosewood in the middle of the night. It was something she hardly ever thought about or allowed herself to ponder over because it was a part of her past that she blocked out completely. She never spoke about it nor did she even want to believe it actually happened. But it felt like it was the end to that part of her that night and a side that she had not gone back to.

Before Carly could try to muster up a reply to him, her phone vibrated on the glass table beside the laptop causing both Jason and her own attention to pick up at the noise. Picking up the device in her hand, she screen flashed up and a new email message appeared on the screen from the station, she could already make out that the email was signifying that something major was happening regarding the case.

Her chest tightened slightly as she realised that her job was still her number one priority to her and the person's brother who's case she had been assigned to was just on her laptop screen, watching her and expecting her to continue the video call they were having. However she did not know if she could read the email knowing he was there because she did not want to cause him any suspicion about what was going on.

It was like another reminder of why they could not be together and probably worse if they found out than if her Dad did.

Gradually she unlocked the phone and the email appeared on her screen, her eyes trailed over the text on the phone and her eyes widened a little when she saw what the new update said. She knew that if Jason found out about the new information she had on her phone, she was pretty sure that he would be asking her questions and trying to find out more, something that in her position she could not do because it was against the rules, rules that she could not break especially when she had already been in trouble this week.

This felt like another reminder of why her getting involved with Jason again was wrong for her job and how it could cost her position on the force once again. But she wasn't stupid enough to just tell Jason the news because she understood confidentiality and the way that if she was to expose what was going on to him, would cause suspicions to grow about Jason and her regarding the case. Tanner would begin to think that she had something to do with what happened that night with Alison, which was far from true because Carly wasn't even at the DiLaurentis' when she went missing.

She was also pretty convinced that Jason had been out of it that night because of what had happened that day and doubted that he had any involvement with what happened. Although the Jason she remembered hated Alison for many reasons, she was still his sister and would not want to cause that much harm to her just because they bickered like any other siblings did.

This meant that she could not get him into trouble with the police just because of her and her position in the force. Even if it meant that any hope of her and Jason rekindling the past was out of the question, she would still not give him any information that was from the case just to help him get closure on what had happened with his sister. She would not go against her authority for him despite how she felt for him.

Thankfully the sound of Jason's phone now ringing broke her out of her thoughts, as well as having to risk Jason finding out the new information and her eyes peeled back onto Jason on the screen instead of her phone in her hand. He frowned slightly when he saw that his Dad was calling him, knowing that this was a rare experience for him to be calling at all let alone in the evening when he had Ali to worry about.

"Uh," Jason's eyes went back over to Carly on the screen "It's my Dad. I'm going to have to take this."

"Sure," Carly nodded at him in understanding as a look of disappointment swept over Jason's face, which definitely didn't go unnoticed to Carly "its fine."

"It was nice talking to you even if it was only brief and again it was a shame that the dress could not have made an appearance in town tonight." He told her with a playful smile that sent her going crazy inside.

Biting on her bottom lip trying to stop herself from grinning madly, she laid her phone back on the table and leaned slightly more into the laptop screen "It was good talking to you too and thanks for keeping me company."

Jason flashed another grin in her direction as he went to hit the end button on the call "I guess I'll speak to you later then?"

"Yeah speak later."

And with that, the video chat ended and Carly was left with a black screen again, where Jason's face used to be. A light sigh escaped her lift for many reasons, such as knowing she got so close then to Jason finding out about what was going on with his little sister in regards to the investigation, as well as a feeling of loneliness and discontent came over her that her time wish Jason had been cut short again. She was only then just beginning to relax, enjoy herself and get to know the new him more.

But there was that opportunity of speaking to him again by the way he had ended that call. By saying that he wanted to speak later gave Carly the impression that there would be more messages exchanged between the pair later on, whenever that would be and. She could already feel the excitement growing in her stomach, knowing that she could not help herself but feel this way about him, because it was just like how she always felt around him and when she knew that there would be a chance to see or speak to him again.

Shaking her head amused and slightly embarrassed by how she was behaving over Jason already, she took hold of her phone in her hands again and read over the email update she had received from the Rosewood police. According to the report, Alison's alleged kidnapper had come forward and was currently being questioned by the police about what exactly happened the night Alison went missing. They would then be reviewing his answers and allowing Alison to ID the guy to see if that was who had kidnapped her.

The news from the station reminded her of the report that she had to finish and read through to hand into Tanner for that Monday. She had the rest of the weekend to work on it but didn't fancy spending the whole weekend stressing over it, so decided to get started with what she needed to do on it and made sure that what information she got through tonight, as well as over the weekend could be used in her report to build a bigger piece that would hopefully help Tanner and the team.

Getting up from her chair that was under the dining table, she went over to the bag that used for work and pulled out her notes that she made for the report throughout the week. She found that jotting down ideas and planning what she wanted to say was the easiest way for her to produce the best piece of information that would impress Tanner, or at least try to impress her. So far Carly had managed to please Tanner with the reports she had produced so far and knew that now more than ever had to make a piece of writing that would make Tanner realise that Carly was a keeper.

As she held the notepad in her hand, her eyes trailed down to the dress that she was still wearing, realising that it would be best if she changed out of the tight number and into something more relaxing to do her work in.

Once she had changed into a plain white t-shirt and some black leggings, she came out of her room and back into the living space to get started on her work. She had the rest of the night that was a good few hours to get stuck into the writing and work hard whilst she did so. Also she was planning on adding and re-doing pieces over the weekend to improve it if need be. But she was confident to think that by Sunday night she would have an impressive piece to hand to Tanner that showed how serious she took the job.

Just as she came back through into other area of her apartment, her phone vibrated again against the glass table signalling she had received another message. A smile grew on her face when she thought about who it could be, a certain Jason DiLaurentis coming to mind and she hoped that him texting her that night would not be too much of a distraction from her work.

However when she picked up her phone in her hand and saw that the message in fact was from a blocked number. Feelings of dread shook over her body knowing just exactly who this message was from. In all honestly because of the drama that had been happening the last few days, Carly had forgotten all about the anonymous texts she had received days ago. She had thought that because they had gone quiet that maybe they had stopped and that Alison had finally got the message because she had enough on her plate to worry about, as well as realising that she could not mess with Carly this time round because it would not work.

Upon seeing the blocked number appear on her phone, her smile altered into a frown and her heart began to pick up rate in her chest knowing that whatever this message was going to say was going to cause some reaction out of her, a reaction that had a higher percentage of being negative than a positive one. But it did not stop her anyway from unlocking her phone and reading the message.

 **Poor Carly, I thought you knew better – A**

She knew exactly who this 'A' or Alison was suggesting to when she read the message. It was clear that 'A' was trying to warn her away from Jason by reminding her of her messy past and how bad it was for her to be close with him again. It did not even make frustrated or worried that 'A' was trying to warn her off of Jason like they knew it was a threat to her life, her relationship with her Dad and friends or even her job because she was highly aware of the risk she was taking, she had thought it through the past few weeks and had not just acted on an impulse when it came to Jason. She had done it for herself and for what she had wanted instead of what other people wanted her to do.

Instead, she felt confused and freaked out as to how the hell 'A' knew that Carly had been in contact with him over text message and on video chat. She wasn't even sure that Alison was even capable of hacking into laptops and phones to find out information on others unless whilst she had been 'missing' from Rosewood, she had enrolled herself into some computer tech class and learned how to hack her way through devices.

It was impossible for a girl who had been missing from town for the past three years to manage to do, yet Carly could not help but think it was still Alison in some way doing this to her, to get back at her for supposedly breaking up Cece and Jason those years ago. Although that had not even been the case and that was not Carly's goal when she had begun to get close to Jason, she wasn't that girl who went around wrecking relationships to get what she wanted.

Sighing in distress, she deleted the message off her phone and pushed it over to the other side of the table in an attempt to forget about it. If Alison's aim was to try mess with her and gain a reaction, then it was not going to work this time around and Carly was just going to try to ignore it. Simply because it wasn't going to stop her from talking to Jason the way she had the past day.

Instead she retook her seat up the table and pulled up the document of writing she had emailed over to herself before she left for work earlier. She was going to keep her head down and get stuck into her work for the rest of the evening. No stupid little spiteful text from Alison was going to put her off doing what she loved and progressing further.

It would not work. Not now. Not ever.

* * *

A tap at the door the next morning caused Carly to pull her lip balm away from her lips and onto the dressing table in front of her. Getting up off her stool, she walked through into the main area of her apartment to go get the door.

When she pulled open the door and saw the joyful look of the brunette woman's face stood on the other side, she felt her own lips switching up into a warm friendly smile back at her as she allowed her more access into the apartment.

"Hey come in," Carly told her as she stepped away from the door and wondered over to the kitchen area "Would you like a drink? Tea? Coffee? Water?"

"Uh no I'm good thanks." Melissa replied as she closed the door behind herself and Carly began to grab herself a glass of water.

Once Carly had made herself a drink, she lead Melissa over to take a seat in her living room space, in which she sat down on the sofa and Carly took the next space beside her, before laying her glass down on the coffee table on a coaster.

The two girls faced each other, both smiling at one another and waiting for the conversation to spark up in which Melissa broke the silence between them both "So what's been going on with you since the last time we spoke? I'm so sorry about ditching lunch the other day by the way."

"Its fine," Carly waved off the apology because she understood the reason why Melissa had to leave "Just been doing the usual, going to work, visiting my Dad when I can, I don't know just the usual. What about you?"

"Yeah me too," Melissa nodded in agreement "Being in Philly with my Dad is beginning to bore the hell out of me though, that's the main reason why I've come to stay in the barn for a while to give him some space."

"Oh god," She replied as she noticed Melissa's smile fall and how hard it probably was for the Hastings family right now "Is your Dad and your Mom still not on good terms?"

"Nope," Melissa lowered her head to the floor slightly "They're basically separated now, all because of his stupid affair with Jessica and the years of lies he's told."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"No," Melissa looked across at Carly with a smile "It's fine. I don't want sympathy."

"Must be hard though."

"God this sounds like that night when I turned up at your apartment and we had that awkward reunion," Melissa mocked the situation and Carly couldn't help but smirk at the reference "Seriously, you apologising and me telling you not to."

"I can't help it though," Carly laughed as she leant over to grab her water "I'm a very considerate person."

"Yeah you are," Melissa joined in the laughter "Exactly why you should not be with someone like Detective Holbrook."

Carly rolled her eyes at her friend's words, knowing that Melissa had not been the biggest fan of Detective Holbrook, just like Carly's Dad and Brooke weren't of Jason. However Melissa had nothing to worry about her friend getting close to the detective when Carly had already friend zoned the guy after realising that her feelings were still lying elsewhere with an old foe.

"Yeah you don't have to worry about that no more." She told her as she took a sip out of her glass and Melissa raised her eyebrows up at her to continue.

"Tell me more."

"It was just weird, I mean he was my boss basically and it just felt weird that I was mixing my work with who I was dating, it was just not right for me, you know?"

"Thank god," Melissa couldn't help but cover her mouth as she lightly laughed "You seriously have such a crap taste in guys Carly."

"Jeez thanks Melissa." Carly pretended to be offended as she rolled her eyes playfully and laid her glass back on the table, knowing exactly where and who this conversation was heading.

"C'mon though," She began as she flashed a teasing grin in Carly's direction "Detective Holbrook…."

"Jason." Carly finished for her with a bigger smile attempting to form on her lips at the reminder of Jason. Instead she pressed her teeth down onto her bottom lip, trying her best to hide what she was really feeling about the mention of him again to her friend, who had no clue that Carly was communicating with him daily.

"Exactly!"

"Well you can talk," Carly decided to flip the switch onto Melissa this time "Ian Thomas for starters."

"Uh yeah." Melissa's face dropped slightly as her eyes rolled down to the ground and a feeling of guilt crept onto Carly knowing that she probably just offended Melissa more than what was intended. She had not meant to cause any harm with bringing him up because they had only been joking with each other. But of course, Carly's big mouth got in the way as per usual and brought up Melissa's dead ex fiancé.

"Mel," Carly sighed as she scooted over to console her friend "I'm sor-."

Before Carly could continue with her apology, Melissa glanced back at her with a light smile "Hey what did I say? No more sympathy being thrown my way by you. But honestly it's ok."

When Carly saw that the usual warm look Melissa gave Carly whenever the two were around each other, was present on Melissa's face again, Carly breathed a sigh of relief and flashed a smile back at her older friend that they were ok.

After a few moments of silenced past among them, Melissa spoke up again and shot a question Carly's way "Have you had anymore texts from A?"

Upon hearing her question, Carly glanced towards her with her eyes wide a little and a dry feeling formed in her throat, knowing that she was going to have to be honest with Melissa, that she was still getting texts and she had been trying to not let them get to her, because she would not allow Alison's silly little games to overpower her.

"Yeah a couple." Carly answered honestly.

Melissa exhaled loudly and shook her head "When will that girl ever learn, I don't know how many more times I have to waste my breath explaining to everyone just how toxic that girl was and still is. She hasn't changed."

"I know but there's nothing we can do really," Carly explained clearing her throat "I've already tried to get Spencer to talk to Alison but I guess that's not worked. I can't exactly do anything else about it when I'm in the position I'm in on the force and telling someone like Tanner or Holbrook would risk all my secrets coming out."

"I know," Melissa nodded knowing that her younger friend was not ready for that and she would never allow her to feel like she had to come forward when she was not ready to "But how about if I can't protect you? I already feel like I can't protect Spencer from Alison and her games."

"You don't need to worry about protecting me," Carly told her with a smile "I'm a big girl now and I'm sure Spencer is too."

"No you don't see it," Melissa shook her head irritated not by Carly, but because of Alison and her actions "Alison gets everyone involved with her games and lies somehow, I don't know what your police team think but I'm pretty sure that Alison wasn't kidnapped, Spencer is heavily involved with that lie and I don't want her to get caught when it all blows up. I need to protect her and you."

"I get it. She's your sister and your family is falling apart," Carly said in a soft tone "But you don't need to worry about me, I've got it under control, Alison won't break me down that easy."

"Really?" Melissa asked like she did not believe Carly was capable of that which only made Carly frown back slightly offended "Are we both forgetting what nearly happened that day?"

"What day?"

"Seriously Carly," Melissa sighed in disbelief "We both know what day I'm on about. The day that if I had not stepped in then god knows what could have happened to you."

Carly felt her chest tighten, her smile fell instantly and her mind flashed back to the moment that Melissa was speak of. It was something that Carly tried to push out of her mind, just like a lot of memories from that year, she had tried to get out of her head and act like nothing like that had ever even happened to her.

However only by Melissa bringing up the past memory, a past memory that was now beginning to resurface, Carly was beginning to doubt her abilities to be able to cope with Alison's attacks towards her in the text messages that she was receiving. Maybe she had been way too naïve to think that she could stand up against Alison, when Alison had a lot on her, that she could use to control Carly in whatever way she wanted without it failing because Carly would do anything to keep her past a secret from everyone who didn't know about what happened that year.

* * *

 **Author note: I hope you enjoyed this part. Sorry it was quite short. I hope that is not an issue and you still liked it anyway!**

 **You don't know how happy I was when I read the reviews on the last part. It made me so happy and feel so grateful. Thank you so much to those who reviewed the last part; ColdHeartAngel, LiLuLo12, karma3825, RHatch89 and all of the guest reviewers! Also thank you to NicoleP1928 and HallowEvesQueen for either favouriting or following the story.**

 **Let me know what you thought about this part and where you think the story is progressing. I love to hear what you think.**

 **Thanks so much xx**


	23. To Be Or Not To Be

**To Be Or Not To Be:**

 ** _~ Spring Break 2009 ~_**

 _The feeling of tugging on her right arm woke Carly up from the deep slumber she had been in after the party at Jason's last night, the first party to begin spring break that year and of course, Carly had gone hard in on the drinking front, a deathly hangover waiting for her, as soon as she woke up and her eyes flung open._

 _The bright light coming from the open curtained window was the first thing that hit her. A pain shot through her head as her eyes tried to adjust to the sudden brightness. A groan escaped her lips as she realised that her heavy drinking last night had left a huge consequence that morning._

 _It wasn't until she felt another tug on her wrist and a whisper coming from someone beside her, that she remembered that someone had been trying to wake her up that morning and was still attempting to grab her attention._

 _Slowly she lifted her head up from the pillow to try and face the person, her head and body continued to ache, as she tried her very best to resist the urge to flop back down onto the bed and fall back to sleep._

 _"Carly," A familiar voice called again as they shook her wrist and tried to help her sit up "Seriously! Get up. We have to leave."_

 _Pulling her body up into a seating position, Carly rubbed her eyes and finally opened them properly to take a look at the concerned girl stood beside her, her arms were folded and she had a frustrated frown on the middle of her forehead._

 _Before Carly could even ask any questions about what was going on, the girl was handing her a glass of water which she took off the bedside table and urged Carly to drink up the liquid to help her recovery._

 _Taking the glass from her friend, she brought it up to her lips and took a small sip out of the substance, the water harshly hitting the dry and burning sensation she had sitting in her throat from the amount of alcohol she had consumed last night causing her to choke and go to put the glass back on the table._

 _"C'mon Carly, drink up, we have to leave like right now." Melissa told her desperately as stopped her friend from putting the water back down and pushed it back towards her._

 _"I can't," Carly sighed in annoyance that her friend was being so demanding when all Carly wanted to do was go back to sleep and deal with her hangover her way "Why are you so persistent to leave? What even is the time?"_

 _"It's 11:30am." Melissa answered before a sigh escaped her lips when she realised that Carly wasn't going to drink the water and instead took it from the girl's grasp onto the table._

 _"What?" She said in disbelief that it was already so late in the morning and she was not even up yet or back at her house, like she had promised herself to do to prevent her getting into more trouble with her Dad for sneaking out yesterday and spending the night out. She was so sure he would already be at home from his night shift, worried and angry about where the hell she was._

 _Feeling panicked, she swung her legs out of the side of the bed and tried her very best to compose her balance when she stood on her feet. Melissa managed to help Carly by holding onto the middle of her arms until the girl was steadily on her feet._

 _Giving her older friend a smile in regards to helping her, she spun around on her feet and her eyes widened a little when she saw that she had been lying in bed the whole time with another person. His bare back was towards her, signalling that somehow last night he had lost his t-shirt, light breaths could be heard from his mouth as he continued to sleep, not even getting disturbed by Carly and Melissa who had been talking right beside him._

 _Carly had slept in Jason's bed last night. She didn't even remember how she even got there, let alone what happened last night, it was like a jumble of events in her mind which hurt to even try to process due to the aching of her head from her wicked hangover. The only moments she could remember were coming to the party, talking to Jason and his friends, and then somehow helping an intoxicated Jason up to his room in her own drunken state and him begging her to stay the night, just them two alone._

 _Oh god, this did not sound good._

 _Turning her head to look at Melissa, who Carly already knew was giving her questionable and disapproving looks from obviously finding her younger friend in bed with Jason DiLaurentis, a guy she didn't agree with Carly hanging around with but could not stop her from doing what she wanted because it was her friend's life, not hers._

 _"Do I want to know what happened last night between you two?" Melissa pointed over to Jason who was still fast asleep in the bed._

 _"Nothing happened," Carly answered even though she was not so sure about some areas of last night, but she knew that if anything did happen, she would have not woke up fully clothed still in her red romper she wore to the party last night and she would have like to have thought she had more self-respect than that "I swear! Nothing happened between us. We just slept."_

 _"I would believe you, Carly but the state you were in last night I beg to differ," Melissa told her as she looked away from Jason and over to Carly again. "C'mon we have to leave."_

 _Nodding her head in agreement and shamefully, she glanced down to the ground and noticed her shoes on the floor beside the bed. Bending down, she quickly slipped them onto her feet and followed Melissa to the doorway to exit the room_

 _On her way out she made sure that one took a long look at Jason, feeling guilty for leaving without saying goodbye, but she knew it was for the best when it looked really bad that she had woken up beside him and had no real explanation as to how she ended up there apart from some drunken memories in her foggy mind._

 _Jogging down the stairs of the DiLaurentis house with Melissa in front, Carly looked around the front space of the house, drinks and food still scattered around the place, a few people still asleep on the floor or the couches in the living room, just by the state of this room of the house, Carly knew that the clear up outside and in the DiLaurentis property was going to take some time._

 _Melissa quickly opened up the front door of the house and stepped out onto the porch, whilst she head open the door for Carly to join her outside. Her eyes began to sting when she had stepped outside, the sunlight hitting her instantly, another painful reminder of how horrible hangovers made her feel and she went to grab her sunglasses out of her bag to try block out the light, before she realised she did not even have her bag on her._

 _"Oh my god," Carly said as she patted her hip where her bag had been last night and glanced over at Melissa "I haven't got my bag. I must have left it inside."_

 _Sighing in annoyance that she could have been so stupid and forgetful, she turned back round on her feet to go back inside to go retrieve it from whatever room she had left it in last night in her drunken state._

 _However before she got the chance to, Melissa grabbed hold of her wrist and pulled her back "No you stay here," She instructed her which made Carly swallow harshly in how strict her friend was being with her "I'll go find it. Just wait here for me to get back."_

 _Seeing how serious Melissa was about Carly staying outside and not going back in that house, she understandingly nodded and Melissa withdrew her hand from the girl's wrist, before making her way back inside to find the bag so that they could finally leave._

 _Dropping her head in shame again, she made her way down the steps onto the porch to stand on the gravel front yard space whilst thinking back to what just happened with Melissa. Carly knew that Melissa did not want her to go back inside for one simple reason._

 _That reason being that she did not want Carly to go find it and run back into Jason, because if she did, they both were well aware that Jason would somehow beg her to stay and Carly would accept the offer because she could not help herself when it came to that guy. She would have done anything for him and it scared Melissa to think how badly Carly could get hurt from just being so close to Jason. He was trouble and always had been but that did not stop her younger friend wanting to be involved with him._

 _"Well well well," The sound of a familiar voice broke Carly out of her thoughts and caused her to turn round to face the two girl's now approaching her "If it isn't the dirty little stop out."_

 _"Cece," Carly spoke trying to be civil and act tough even though she was pretty sure she was crumbling inside as she glanced between the two blondes "Alison."_

 _"How does it feel to have spent the night with my boyfriend whilst me, his girlfriend was all forgotten about and replaced by you?" Cece asked in a spiteful tone._

 _"Nothing was stopping you from spending the night with him also." Carly told her as she folded her arms across her chest and kept herself together._

 _"Really? Wow you make it sound so easy," Cece laughed sarcastically as Alison smirked at her friend "I would have loved to spend the night with Jason yet he was with you all night, his arm wrapped around you like if he let go you would be gone."_

 _"You had your chances to be with him last night, I saw him try to talk to you and you didn't even bother to pay him any attention. This happens at every single party, Cece. No wonder he distances himself from you if he gets treated like that." She shot back at Cece, trying to stick up for Jason, as well as herself because she would not let her walk over them._

 _"I only do that because I'm fed up of seeing him go after you," Cece spat as she pointed her finger at Carly accusingly "Whenever he's around, there you are right beside him and even when I'm alone with him, he always has something to say about you. What I want to know is what is so special about you Carly?"_

 _"I don't know." Carly shrugged in honesty. She had no idea why Jason was so interested her._

 _"Well I'm pretty sure if it came down to it, if Jason had to pick between me and you, he would pick me."_

 _"I agree, I know Jason, he would always pick someone who's already had experience with sex, because that's not you is it Carly?" Alison added causing Carly to rub her lips together nervously, knowing exactly where this was going and what Alison was trying to do "You've never had sex before, you're still a virgin. Maybe Jason just feel's sorry for you."_

 _"Maybe he does."_

 _"And maybe that's a sign to back off from my boyfriend." Cece spat._

 _"Yeah this is a warning Carly," Alison informed her taking a step closer to the brunette "Stay away from my brother and stop trying to break up his relationship with Cece, or else."_

 _Carly could have ran off timidly and terrified of what Alison or Cece could do or say next to provoke her from staying away from Jason. However Carly was not going to just let either of them try to tell her what to do. She was not going to stay away from Jason because even though she was attracted to him and probably even had feelings for him, she valued their friendship and she loved spending time with him, he was fun and they got on so well, that she did not want to have to end that just because some threats that Alison and Cece was making towards her. It wasn't going to scare her._

 _"That's kind of ironic coming from you Alison," Carly began as she flashed a smug look in her direction "I mean, you accuse me of wanting Jason and wanting to break up his relationship with Cece, so I can have him. But isn't that what you're doing with Ian? You're trying to break up his relationship with Melissa so you can have him all to yourself."_

 _"You don't know a thing about what I'm doing," Alison hissed back her as her face flushed with anger "And even if my situation was any similar to yours, at least Ian actually wants me, unlike Jason who doesn't even want you."_

 _"Really? You think Ian wants to be with you, Alison?" Carly laughed to herself as she shook her head "I'm pretty sure that's illegal. But whatever imaginary situation you have put yourself into, continue, really it is amusing. But let me make this clear, I am not trying to break up Cece and Jason. I don't even want to be with him."_

 _"Clearly that's not true because you're literally around my brother 24/7 doing god knows what with each other, I mean if I hadn't have walked in on the two of you yesterday, then I'm pretty sure you would have made your move."_

 _"Obviously I would have," Carly said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes in annoyance at how childish this argument was. She just wished Melissa would hurry up so she could leave. "But then again I'm not you, Alison. I'm the inexperienced one when it comes to sex, so I don't drop my knickers for just anybody who wants me because I'm not a desperate bitch."_

 _Suddenly Alison lifted her hand up, in one big swift motion she slapped her hand right across Carly's face which did not even give her enough time to back away or stop her from doing so at all. Unfortunately for Carly, one of Alison's nails caught Carly's lip, causing a shot of pain to rip through her bottom lip and she could already feel the drops of blood begin to weep out of the open cut that had took a hard hit._

 _Dropping her jaw in shock at what Alison had just done to her, she quickly raised her hand up to her painful lip and the top of her finger began to get covered in blood as she lightly touched the cut, her eyes rolling over to Alison in annoyance as the younger blonde turned back to look at Cece in achievement._

 _"Don't you ever call me names like that again and stay the hell away from my brother."_

 _Carly could feel the anger still bubbling up in her chest and she tried her best to keep herself together, so she would not retaliate back and do something that she would regret. She was no fighter. She had never been in a fist to fist fight before and knew that she never wanted to be. Her aim in life was to never get into an argument out in public like this, yet here she was throwing spiteful words back at Alison or Cece, joining in with their mean behaviour._

 _"So it's one rule for you and another for me?"_

 _Before Alison could jump back into the squabble that they were having in the front yard of the DiLaurentis property, Melissa came storming back out of the house and by the look on her face, everyone knew that she had heard the commotion from inside and was now about to have her say in the argument to stick up for Carly._

 _"Hey!" Melissa yelled angrily as she ran down the steps and came to stand beside Carly "Don't you ever touch her again! Do you hear me, Alison? No one wants to play your silly little games, now clear off and leave Carly alone."_

 _"I was just giving her what she deserves for hitting on Jason when he has a girlfriend." Alison smirked back as Cece chuckled from behind._

 _"Well maybe I need to give you what you deserve for hitting on mine." Melissa spat back as she handed Carly back her bag, which she had found up in Jason's room and had also woken him up in the process of her hunting for the item._

 _And he was already making his way down the stairs after he heard Melissa going after Alison, when they had both began to hear raised voices and the sound of Alison shouting at someone. It clicked in both of their minds that something had to be going on between Carly and Alison. Melissa had begged Jason for not to get involved because it would have looked even worse on Carly if Jason had appeared to save the day, but he would not listen as he was so determined to defend Carly with his life to stop his little sister from ruining the bond he had with the other teenager._

 _"Ali what the hell did you do?" Jason asked as he came out of the house and over to the girls, his eyes widening in horror when he saw Carly clutching her bottom lip in agony and the smug look on Cece and Alison's faces._

 _Without even getting his sister the chance to reply, Jason wondered over to Carly and stood in front of her. She timidly glanced up at him, trying to push out the pain she was feeling in her lip and act as if what was happening wasn't bothering her because if he saw that she was weak, maybe he would begin to think differently of her or worse, he could take out his anger on Alison which would cause more drama and Carly would have to deal with the consequence from the two girls about how Jason defended her._

 _"I can't believe this, Ali." Jason sighed in frustration as he grabbed hold of Carly's hand and pulled up towards the house, wanting to get her away from this and to get her cleaned up._

 _"You're such a brat," He told his sister as he pushed past her with a glare and pulled Carly up the steps of his porch, turning his head to look at the girl with sorrow eyes "C'mon let's get you inside."_

 _Melissa went to call after them and get Jason to stop but when she saw how close Jason was holding Carly to him, the look of relief on Carly's face to be with Jason and how hard Jason had slammed the door shut, she knew she had to let her friend go because it was best if she did not cause any more drama or hurt towards Carly, surely a hit to the face and insults thrown her way was enough for one day._

 _And Melissa was right. It was enough for one day. But it did not stop Alison or Cece from making sure that they did everything to try and get Jason to back away from Carly or Carly to leave Jason alone to be with Cece other days. However hard they tried, it did not stop Carly and Jason from being as close as they were or stop them having feeling's for each other._

 ** _~ End of Flash Back ~_**

Just like back then, Melissa was so correct about her abilities to stand up against Alison, when Alison had a lot on Carly and knew that she could threaten her with anything from that year to get what she wanted. She knew she should have been terrified of what Alison could do to her and what the messages she was receiving could lead to, but part of her felt different to what eighteen year old Carly was now.

She had grown up and learnt a lot. She was a different person to what she was then. Although she stuck up for herself slightly back then, she knew if something similar to that happened again anytime soon, she would be able to stand up against the teenager properly and not back down as easily as she felt like she did before.

She let Melissa and Jason just let her walk away. She didn't allow herself to fully say how she felt about what was happening and what her real motives were by getting close to Jason, because they sure as hell wasn't to break up the relationship he had with Cece. But she was convinced that if Cece and Alison did know the real reason, they would have probably found the situation more amusing than it really was and maybe it was for the best that she kept her true motives hidden from the two.

After Melissa had left that day when things had begun to get a bit too awkward and into deep about the past for the two of them, Carly had decided to focus herself on the rest of the work that she had to finish for the day. Although part of her could not even concentrate, as her mind wondered back to Alison and what the teenager would do if she fully found out about her talking to Jason again. Alison would definitely not be happy about it and would probably try to stop anything from happening between the two. It was like another person who could not stand to see them together and was trying to make her regret speaking to him again after all this time.

But that's exactly what they all wanted. They all wanted there to be reasons why she should not talk to him as opposed to proper reasons as to why she should. No one ever saw what good Jason actually done for Carly because they didn't know him like she did. She was also pretty sure that he was still the same caring, considerate and down to earth guy that she once knew. He had already proved it from what happened that night with the tape; he had handled the situation so well and had been so kind to her about it all. He had really looked out for her and that's all he ever did or wanted to do for her, to make sure that she was safe and felt good.

That was why she was not going to let Alison or –A get to her or break up whatever she had going on with Jason at the moment, because no one could stop her from going after what she really wanted. She had been honest about her feelings, even though sometimes she had some doubts if this really was the best thing to do, but so far she had enjoyed every moment she had shared with Jason. It felt good to finally address her feelings and not hide them away like she had been doing the past three years.

* * *

The next morning, Carly had gotten up early to do one last read through and make any adjustments to her report, before she threw on some running attire and went for a morning run. When she had gotten back she made herself some breakfast and sat down with a coffee, before she jumped into the shower and got ready for the rest of the day ahead.

Although she did not have any define plans, she was going to make the most of the day because it was good to spend her time off from working doing something useful as well as relaxing. Also she knew if she was just moping about it would cause her to over think everything about her life, which she did not want to happen because she had already been through enough the past week and didn't want to start her fresh week back at her work the next day in a low mood because she didn't want to affect her performance. Plus she already had a lot to prove to keep her position.

As she pulled on a black high waisted flippy mid-thigh length skirt, the sound of her phone vibrating on her bedside unit alerted her attention elsewhere and a small smile crept on her face when she realised who the new message could be from.

Of course, it was from Jason. The pair had still been in contact with one another despite the quick end to their video chat the other night. So far, things between them had been going smoothly, they had been just chatting about general bits and pieces. Neither of them going into anything major or bringing up parts of the past because they both knew it would be way too soon to discuss that with each other.

Mainly because they were both still damaged from it and it still was quite fresh in their minds about what went on that year, especially when they were still trying to get to know each other again and were both on their journeys of recovery. However Jason had no idea that Carly had received helped for her issues and Carly didn't have any clue that Jason had struggled over the years to recover from his own.

Both knew it was a topic of conversation that they were just not ready to talk openly about with each other, because it had the potential to ruin things due to the reminder of the reckless things that they both carried out that year. Yet Jason was pretty sure that it had left a lot of damage on Carly and had changed her a lot more than he had been realising. Also Carly knew how vulnerable Jason could be to go back to old habits because of how much drama him and his family had gone through the past few years, no wonder he had gotten out of Rosewood and sounded like he was not going to come back any time soon.

Right now, both of them just enjoyed getting to know one another again and talking like what happened back then, didn't actually happen. Talking to each other without bringing up the past or thinking about the consequences of their actions, meant they could pretend things were normal between them and always had been, even though they were far from it. But it did not stop them from constantly texting and calling each other throughout the day, even at night Carly found herself sitting on her couch, wrapped up in a blanket listening to the sound of his voice down the other end of the phone, hearing about his day or both of them discussing how drama crazy a town like Rosewood was.

From the outside looking in, it could have seemed like Carly was talking to her boyfriend who was in another state doing some work for his own business, whilst she was busy at home working on the police team. By the ever growing smile on her face when she received a text or was listening to him talk; some could even presume that she was head over heels for the guy she was talking to and some would even be jealous to see someone so crazy about another.

But that was far from the situation that they were really in. From the inside looking out, Carly knew how bad it was for her to get so close to Jason again after years of preparing herself to get over him and promising herself and everyone close to her that she would just forget about him. She also knew how much hurt and disappointment she would cause her Dad and Brooke if they found out about what she was doing, talking to Jason again, normally and naturally after all this time apart, time she spent pretending to get over him just so her Dad and Brooke would get off her back about having feelings for such an 'drunken, intoxicated, troubled and embarrassed boy'.

Although they didn't know Jason like she did. They never saw the real good side of him, the parts past all the careless actions and the misunderstood judgement the town had given him. Neither of them saw how much he cared about her, how much he would try to keep her safe and protect her at all costs, how much he wanted to go to New York with her and start a new life with her, so that they could finally be together without anyone trying to stop them from being who they wanted to be.

All they focused on was what they had heard about him, all the bad and horrid things he had done to give his family a bad image, the negative things he had got Carly into and turned her into a damaged teenager. They both blamed him for Carly's downfall. But Carly only blamed herself for that. It was all her control. Jason had never pressured her into doing anything that she did not want to do. All he ever did was look out for her and he had been punished for it every day since the day that she left Rosewood without saying goodbye.

Shaking away the memories of that year, she picked up her phone and read over the message she had just received from Jason, all the bad thoughts slipping away just by a simple text message from him, wishing her good morning and that he enjoyed their phone call last night very much. In all honestly, she had too and hoped that somehow it may become a daily part of the routine to hear his voice.

Typing a quick reply back to him, she finished getting ready for the rest of the day and finalising the finishing touches to her look that day. She had a few plans that day which meant she did not have to be stuck inside all day pondering over crap that she no control over, such as more bad things happening in her life, especially after last week's work troubles.

* * *

It was around 11:30am when she left the house that morning, for a Sunday Rosewood town centre was beginning to get a little busy with residents heading to the local stores to shop for goods, families heading out on day trips out of town and friends meeting up for a late brunch.

Carly on the other hand was heading over to the local bakery to pick up some cake treats that she could bring round to Ella Montgomery's in aid of helping to cheer her up. She had contacted her last night, just to ask if she would be around tomorrow and hoped that she felt a lot better soon after the sudden cancellation of the engagement party.

Of course, Ella had not mentioned the real reason why the party was cancelled and to be honest, Carly was more concerned about how Ella felt, instead of being more intrigued as to what drama when down between her and her (ex)fiancé. In all honesty, she felt sorry for the woman, knowing that what went down between Ella and her ex-husband whilst Carly was in New York, she knew that having another relationship broken must have hurt so much more than if she had never been married before or been cheated on previously by her ex-husband.

She always felt a close bond to the Montgomery's due to their families being friends and Carly babysitting the two teenagers when they were kids. When she had found out about Byron cheating on Ella, she had been astonished and it had took her a while to come to terms with the news. She had always thought they had been so happy with each other and that they were a family that could have never been parted. But they had and Carly was slowly adjusting to this new set up now she was back in Rosewood.

Ella had been somewhat like a mother figure to Carly growing up, always looking out for her and treating her like her own offspring. It had made more sense when Carly felt like the older sister to Aria and Mike, the two siblings that she never even had and it was great to be a part of a family when her Dad was working, even if she really wasn't through blood.

Carly exited the bakery with her cakes and was on her way to the Montgomery house. She pulled up outside the house around ten minutes later, a small smile gracing her lips when she realised just how much the house had not changed since she had moved back. It gave her a sense of relief that even though everyone around her had changed with the drama, parts of Rosewood still felt the same and it was a positive feeling, rather than the regular negative she had been feeling about the drastic changes.

Climbing out of the car, she closed the door behind herself and locked up her car, before she slipped her keys into leather jacket pocket and made her way up to the front porch with the cupcake box in her hands. Once she reached the porch, she wondered up the few steps and approached the front door.

Unexpectedly a few waves of nervousness hit her, reminding her of how her coming here could make her seem like she was being way too interested in what was going on in Ella's life and could be using it for something to build on the case back at the station. She was worried what the Montgomery's would think of her random visit and if they could even trust her. Also she still had not got over what happened with Aria back at the high school. She hoped that she might be around so Carly could apologise once again and reassure her that she could trust her.

Shaking away her nerves, she brought her hand up and lightly tapped at the door. After a few seconds, a figure could be seen through the blurry glass and the door slowly moved open to reveal a tired looking Ella.

"Hey. I hope you don't mind me popping over like this," Carly began as she tried to hold her nerves and show how she really did feel about coming round to see the woman "I just thought that maybe you could do with some company, if that's ok?"

When she stopped talking and glanced up to get an answer, she noticed just how puzzled and out of it Ella looked. It instantly started to make her rethink about coming over, maybe it was too soon to show her concern and she should have given her more time to come to terms with whatever the hell had happened.

"I mean I can go if you don't want me here, that's complete fine too." She added with a small smile.

"No," Ella spoke up dryly, before she cleared her throat and tried to force a smile on her face for Carly's sake "I could do with some company and a break. Please come inside."

Breaking out into a bigger smile, Carly stepped inside as Ella stood away from the door and allowed Carly to come into the house. Once the young woman was inside, Ella brought Carly round to the living room area and motioned for her to take a seat down on the couch. Both of them sat down, one of them on one end of the couch and the other on the other end, neither knowing where to start.

Carly laid the cupcakes she had brought round with her on the coffee table in front of the two of them "I brought you some cupcakes. I thought maybe they would help to make you feel a bit better."

"That's really sweet of you," Ella smiled lightly and properly for the first time in the past twenty four hours, as she leant over to take a closer look at the cakes in the box, noticing some of her favourites that she was sure Carly had remembered from growing up and being around the Montgomery family "I'll go make us some tea, you still like tea right?"

"Yeah tea is great thanks," Carly nodded as Ella got up from the couch "Two sugars."

"Yes I remember."

Around five minutes later, Ella came back from the kitchen carrying a draw which had two plates and two cups of tea upon it. Carly smiled over at Ella when she laid the object down on the table in front of them and retook her seat on the couch beside Carly.

"I'm actually really grateful for some different company," Ella began to tell Carly with a sad tone in her voice "Everyone's just been hanging around me or walking around me on egg shells, it's just nice for someone new to come see me and handle the situation in a different way."

"Well I'll be honest, I was quite surprised when I received the email on friday night," Carly informed her trying to make sure that she was going to upset Ella more than she already was "But I didn't want to ask what was wrong then because I know it's none of my business, so I thought I would pop over today just to make sure you're ok as I have a busy week ahead at work."

"No I understand," Ella nodded back at her "And it's ok to ask. I mean, we've hardly spoke the last few years but I still stayed in touch with your father. We all did. You guys were basically like family and that's not changed since you've been away."

"Thank god," Carly laughed lightly in relief "That's probably the only thing that hasn't changed."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't know," Carly shrugged even though she was fully aware of certain people and situations in this town that she had drastically changed since being in New York and returning to Rosewood "Just everyone and everything just seems to have changed, you know they've all adapted to the drama that's occurred the past few years."

"Sadly," Ella sighed with a nod "You're right there."

"But I guess that expected when you have been away for three whole years. I guess it is just something I'm going to have to get used to." Carly suggested with a smile as she watched Ella lean across and pick up the two teas in her hands for the both of them to drink.

Taking the cup from Ella's grasp, Carly brought the warm steaming liquid up to her lips and blew lightly on the substance, before she took a small sip out of the drink as Ella did the same.

"Wow. I can't believe you have been away for three whole years. Time really has gone so fast and so much has happened." Ella explained with a light sigh.

"Yeah I know."

Ella grinned over at Carly as the younger woman had nodded in agreement before taking another sip out of her tea "Seem's like just yesterday when you use to come babysit Aria and Mike. Now Aria's in her last year at high school and of to college next year."

"That makes me feel old," Carly laughed even though she was only a few years older than Aria, it just seemed so weird that the girl she use to babysit and consider a younger sibling was off to college to start up her career "Last time I was in Rosewood properly I had been the one off to college."

"I know. But I bet you feel a lot better than you did back then."

Carly's eyebrows twitched up at this in both confusion and concern at what Ella was implying. Did Ella know what happened to her that year and her tragic end to the summer that resulted in her leaving town so suddenly without even a goodbye?

Once Ella saw the look of suprise on the younger woman's face, she knew she had to quickly speak up to stop Carly from worrying more than she already was "Your Dad told me about what was going on back then."

"He did?" Carly questioned in shock and disbelief that her Dad had never mentioned the fact he had told someone else other than Brooke back in New York, especially someone who lived in a highly judgemental town like Rosewood.

Somehow Carly didn't quite believe that her Dad had told the full story of Carly's problems. Instead she knew that he would only give a brief story or twisted it in some way to appear that why Carly had left so suddenly was not as bad as it seemed, when in reality it actually was quite serious and the whole reason why she realised what she was doing with her life needed a massive change and it also made her feel increasingly anxious from time to time, a consequence she was having to live with daily.

"Oh yeah. Your Dad confided in me about a lot and he was actually really there for me when my marriage with Byron broke down, even though he was working late at the hospital each night he still made time for me." Ella explained to her.

"He really is superhuman." Carly smiled in surprise that her Dad had done that for Ella when she had been going through a hard time. He always loved helping people, just like he had helped her so many times through her hard times and always worked hard to save emergencies at the hospital.

"Yeah so like I said, it is nice to have someone a little different around than the usual faces you see when you're going through a hard time. Just like now with you. You're helping me feel better about about the fact that Zack hit on other females."

"Oh my god," Carly muttered in shock and slight anger that someone could do that to Ella, even when she had already been previously cheated on when she was with her ex-husband, then the same thing to basically happen again with another man made Carly feel disgusted that someone could have the nerve to do that "I'm so sorry. You do not deserve that at all."

"You know what, it's completely fine. Don't apologise," Ella tried to reassure Carly even though her voice broke a little when she spoke, like she was trying to hold back tears and mask how she really felt. Although Carly could tell just how Ella really felt inside. "That's why I have been spending the weekend making phone calls and cancelling things, I just want it over and done with."

"If there's anything I can help you with, let me know, I'd be happy to help." Carly offered which Ella shook her head with a small smile.

"No it's ok, I have everyone in this household offering me their services, I think I can manage. Just by coming to see me and bringing me cake has been a real help, it's been nice to take a break. So thank you for the offer," Ella thanked her as the two drank the rest of their tea down "I should probably get back to my list of things to do anyway."

"Sure, of course," Carly agreed knowing it was best for her to leave so she could crack on with what needed to be done without anyone else hassling her "I'm glad I could help in some way."

Carly laid her cup back down onto the tray in the centre of the coffee table and rose to her feet, just as Ella did the same ready to walk Carly to the door and bid her goodbye. Just as the two of them wondered out of the living room area, Carly came to a halt in the centre of the room and turned to look over at Ella.

"Is Aria at home? I was just wondering if I could talk to her, apologise for what happened the other day at the school, I still feel pretty terrible about what happened."

"Uh yeah. She's upstairs with Spencer," Ella informed her as she picked up the tray from the coffee table and nodded her head in the direction of the stairs "Head on up."

"Great thanks." Carly nodded back with a small smile as she wondered over to the stair case and began to climb the stairs up to where she remembered Aria's room use to be from when she use to stay over and babysit back in the day.

As she stepped up onto the landing of the first floor of the house, she could hear quiet female voices coming from one of the open bedroom doors along the hall and Carly could already presume that it was Aria and Spencer talking to each other, probably gossiping about some high school rumour like the typical teenager did whilst still in high school.

Walking quietly across the hall, she approached Aria's bedroom door and raised her arm up to knock lightly on the wooden door. As soon as the sound of her knocking filled the upstairs, the conversation between the two girls died down and Carly used this as her cue to step into the room to make her appearance.

"Hey," Carly greeted with a sheepish smile, as she stepped into the bedroom, the two teenagers expressions were full of surprise and concern to see Carly stood in Aria's bedroom, let alone inside the Montgomery house after all this time and so randomly on a Sunday, both of the girl's, mainly Aria were beginning to wonder if she had showed up here to intermediate them more for Alison's and Shana's cases "Your Mom told me you were upstairs, I was then on my way home, but I thought before I leave I would just come apologise for the other day."

Aria's eyes widened a little at what Carly was referring to, relief washing over her when she realised that she had only wanted to see her to apologise rather than to question her.

Instead she flashed a fake back in Carly's direction and shook her head back at the girl "No it's fine. Just forget about it."

"Are you sure?" Carly asked a little taken back that Aria was being so chill with her compared to her behaviour the other day in the school hallway.

"Of course, everything's fine." Aria confirmed in a fast pace as she glanced over at Spencer and back over at Carly with the same fake smile plastered on her face, which all Spencer could do was stare over at Carly confused at how Aria was behaving.

Aria just wanted Carly gone, so that her and Spencer could try figure out what the hell they were going to next with the problems they were facing, without someone like Carly interfering and reporting it all back to the cops.

"Oook," Carly replied unsure of what was going on here but didn't want to question further, since things between them seemed patched up now and Carly hoped Aria could trust her again "I'll guess I'll get going then. See you."

"See you." Aria and Spencer chimed at the same time as Carly turned on her feet and started to head back towards the stairs.

Although the sound of the girl's raised and annoyed voices alerted her attention, causing her to stop in her tracks and turn her head back slightly, especially at the mention of her name.

She could just about make out what Spencer was saying as she peered back round the corner of the wall outside Aria's bedroom, she felt bad and rude for ease dropping but her detective instincts where getting the better of her, as well as her concern about what was going on with these girl's, they already had so much to deal with and she couldn't imagine what else was going on with them.

"Look Aria, we cannot take anymore chances. We have to cut the cord with Ali before she drags us down with her." Spencer said in a stern and desperate tone.

"What are you saying?" Aria pressed.

"I say we use what we got from Noel, the pictures, the conversations with Shana because they prove that Ali was alive and decidedly un-kidnapped for the past two years." Spencer replied.

"O-ok and that helps us how?" Aria asked still unsure of this idea, as Carly raised her eyebrows a little, a lump forming in her throat knowing that her suspicions of Alison supposedly gone missing had been a huge lie all along and now she had the evidence to prove it.

But now she had to decide whether or not she was going to use it to protect Aria and withdraw information from Tanner? Or go against her promise to protect Aria, to gain the trust back and inform Tanner of what really had been going on the past few years?

"We go to Carly and we tell her the truth, that we thought that Ali was dead up until Ravenswood," Spencer began to explain her theory which caused Carly's attention to heighten on the teen girls at the mention of her name "the only thing that we know about past two years is whatever Ali told us, that she lied to us, just like she lied to them."

"Ok but what about New York? We can't just come half clean." Aria responded in a paranoid tone.

"I know," Spencer nodded trying to reassure Aria "But we tell her what happened there too, that it was self-defence and you were protecting us, that's the truth!"

"But the truth doesn't amount to much when it comes from a bunch of liars," Aria cried in a frustrated way "Spencer the whole reason why I am freaking out about this Cyrus thing is because it could lead Tanner to the theatre and now you want to beat A to the punch by telling Carly what really happened, I can't tell her that."

But Aria had no idea that Carly had heard everything and was already putting pieces together, her anxiety soaring through the roof and she knew that this would only end badly for one of them.

"Exactly! Because it's better if they find out from us, especially Carly, she can help us." Spencer tried to reason with her.

"Spencer, I thought you were the smart one?" Aria asked confused that her friend was even suggesting that they spoke to Carly about all of this "Carly is on the force now, she's working with Tanner on Alison's case. There's no way in hell we can trust her with information like this."

"Maybe not in her position," Spencer told her "But as a friend, someone who also has a lot of secrets of her own, maybe we can trust and relate to her also. Just trust me on this."

"How do you know that?" Aria said more puzzled by all of this and what Spencer was implying about Carly "What are you suggesting?"

Before Carly could even listen to more of the girl's conversation, she felt her heart beat begin to pick up and she knew that she was only moments away from freaking out, she had to get out of there and away from the conversation. She should have never listened into the girl's conversation. It was so rude of her to do so and so unlike her.

But as soon as she heard her name mentioned, part of her hoped that the girl's was talking about her in a good way, therefore she just had to listen. However she wish she had not know after that she had heard and had managed to find out about the girls.

Someone in her position would have reported it straight away to Tanner, but because Carly knew the girl's personally, she felt like it was her duty to keep her mouth shut and let the girl's take care of their issue by themselves. If they were smart and brave enough, she knew that they would make the right decision and come clean to the cops in their own time. She just hoped that no one would find out about her holding back the information.

Although if that wasn't enough for her to worry about, she was shocked to learn that there was others who also knew about her secrets or who knew that she did have secrets from that year. Spencer must have read more into Carly's text messages from -A by going to Melissa, because from what Carly could gather, it sounded like the girls also were being harassed by this -A person too. Also by the sounds of it, they wanted to get away from Alison and this only confirmed her suspicions of Alison being this anonymous -A person.

Taking a deep breath, Carly quickly turned back round and made her way back down the stairs, trying to muster up a smile and her usual friendly expression on her face, so that Ella would not suspect anything and that she could exit the house without going into a full blown panic about what she had heard.

All of this drama was really beginning to test her, it seemed like every moment she stepped out of her apartment door, something or someone was making her life a problem, making her choose between protecting everyone else or herself. To be selfless or selfish.

* * *

 **Author note: Special thank you to all of you who have read this part and the story so far. I hope you're enjoying it and liking where it is headed.**

 **Also an extra special thank you to the reviewers RHatch89 and ColdHeartAngel! You guys are amazing and always leave me lovely comments.**

 **UPDATE: So I am also going to be going on a 1/2 week break. So during this time I won't be uploading any parts on Thursday. This is because of as mentioned previously, I have becoming behind in my writing and I like to be ahead of the part that has recently been upload by at least five parts, which at the moment I am nowhere near. So I am going to try my best to get back to writing and keeping up with the schedule I had originally set for myself. Hopefully within the next two weeks, I will have wrote a few more parts and I will be ready to upload some more for you guys. I hate having to do this as I enjoy uploading so much and reading feedback from you guys, but I can't not keep up to date and not have anything ready for you guys to read. **

**Therefore, feel free to leave me some nice comments to read whilst I am busy writing and not updating. I love to hear what you think and I'm always welcome to comments.**

 **Thanks so much**

 **xx**


	24. Going Places

**Going Places:**

After spending the rest of the afternoon relaxing and trying to get her head back into a good place, Carly had made herself some dinner, freshened herself up and was back into her car again on the way to the Hastings property to go talk to Melissa.

Part of her wanted to see the girl to let off some steam, as well as ask her if Spencer knew more about her secrets and what her -A text messages said than what Carly had told her back at Radley that day, when she had told Spencer to warn Alison. The other part was that Melissa needed her, she was freaking about Spencer and what Alison could do to drag her sister down, she just needed someone to talk to who had some form of idea of what was going on and had been there that year, when everything had gotten crazy and the whole reason everyone seemed to be in a mess.

She shut off her car engine around fifteen minutes later when she pulled up outside the Hastings property. The last few times Carly had ventured down the road that the DiLaurentis and Hasting properties were upon, she had been on investigations with Holbrook or Tanner, as well as the first night she had bumped into Jason. It felt weird for her to be here voluntarily without having her superior alongside her. It almost felt familiar to pull up outside the two homes in the evening to hang out with those who lived there.

Climbing out of her car and locking it up, she made her way through the front gate and up towards the back porch where the back doors were located. Melissa had told her to come round the back, just like she used to when she use to come over to visit when she was a teenager and normally got stopped by Jason on the way who was trying to get her to come to his to hang with him instead.

As she wondered across the back yard, her eyes trailed across the lawn and an uncomfortable feeling grew in the bottom of her stomach. Just a few weeks ago, Carly had turned up here and witnessed Jessica DiLaurentis' diseased body in the Hastings backyard, it made her feel sick to think that someone could burry someone alive who had already gone through so much tragedy the past few years.

On the other hand, she also thought back to the moment when she had first saw Jason during the summer before they first officially met, she had been lounging in her bikini when she had spotted him and the other two boys spying on them. Back then she had no idea that she would even get close to Jason, let alone three years later be still talking to him and have feelings for him after all this time.

Shaking her memories away, she came to a stop outside the back door and tapped lightly on it to alert Melissa's attention. Within a few seconds, Melissa came to the door and welcomed Carly inside the house. A smile crept on her face a she came inside the house, noticing that everything was still the same as the last time she had been here, the last moment she could remember of her being inside the house was a few days before she had drastically left town, somehow it just felt like yesterday that she use to hang inside the Hastings house with Melissa.

"Thank god you're here!" Melissa spoke as Carly came into the kitchen and stood behind the island with Melissa.

"What's going on?" Carly asked worriedly as she placed her car keys onto the work surface and turned to face her friend.

"I don't know what else to do about Spencer," Melissa began as she ran her fingers over her face "I can't stand here and do nothing whilst Alison just continues to create more mess, Spencer doesn't deserve it, I don't know what else to do to protect her from this. I've thought about going away and bringing her with me."

"Hey, just breathe," Carly told her as she stepped slightly closer to her friend "I know you want to help Spencer. But she can take care of herself and I think she knows what she is doing. You can't just leave."

"No she has no idea what's really going on..."

"I think you're wrong there." Carly disagreed as Melissa frowned back at her.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Look I don't want to sound like I was intruding on anything but I went to visit Aria's Mom earlier today. Whilst I was there, I went to apologise to Aria about a little run in we had the other day and as I was leaving, I heard Spencer and Aria talking."

"O-ok," Melissa nodded and urged her to continue "Go on."

"I think they want to cut ties with Alison," Carly informed her knowing that even though Melissa would do anything to see Alison gone, she knew when to respect Carly and promised she would never expose anything that her younger friend knew "I know Spencer does for sure, but I think it's just winning the other girl's over as well. Spencer basically said that Alison was never kidnapped, it was just a lie Alison told and made the girl's back up her story."

"I knew it!" Melissa groaned frustratedly at what Carly was telling her "And when Alison goes down, so does Spencer."

"Exactly."

"But there was something else," Carly continued on knowing she had to question Melissa to find out whether or not she had exposed some of her secrets to her younger sister "Did you tell Spencer about my past?"

"What?" Melissa asked in disbelief before she shook her head "Of course not, I swear I didn't. I would never do that. Why do you think that I would?"

"I didn't think you did," Carly breathed a sigh of relief "I just heard her mention to Aria that they can relate to me about the -A stuff and how I have secrets also."

"I never told her anything about you, nothing about your past or what happened to you," Melissa responded "She asked me why A would target you and I just told her it was complicated, she didn't press any further. I think she has more important things to worry about than your past, no offence."

"No, none taken." Carly lightly smiled back at Melissa but was suddenly turned into a frown, when they heard a car door slam shut and the sound of the gate opening at the back of the yard.

Melissa quickly went over to one of the window's to look out to see who it was and instantly began to freak out when she saw Spencer exiting her car, before making her way towards the barn, clearly up to something and trying to find something out from the barn.

Spinning back round she turned to face Carly who had now began to wonder over to join her older friend as Melissa spoke up in a hushed tone "It's Spencer."

"What is she doing out there?" Carly asked confused as the two of them watched Spencer sneakily go into the barn.

Instead of answering her friends question, Melissa remained silent as the two of them kept their eyes located on the barn, waiting for Spencer to re-emerge again. By the look on Melissa's face, Carly could tell that Melissa clearly was not happy about Spencer sneaking into the barn, the place where Melissa had been staying the past few days whilst she was away from her apartment with her Dad in Philly.

From the looks of the situation, Carly gathered that the two Hastings siblings still weren't the best of friends. In fact now, they seemed even further apart than they had a few years back, if that was even possible. She knew that the siblings did not get on with each other very well, always bickering and competing with one another. But it seemed in the past few years, it had gotten a lot worse and Carly could clearly see it was because of the huge secret Melissa was keeping from not only her Mom, but also her younger sister, Spencer. A secret that could change things.

Her thoughts were pushed aside when Spencer came out of the barn, a look of defeat and concern on her face as she began her way towards the house, heading straight towards the doors what opened up into the living space that the two women were already spying on her from.

"I'm going to confront her." Melissa declared as she spun round on her feet and marched her way over to one of the light switches in the dimly lit room.

"What are you serious?" Carly asked in shock that Melissa wanted to go about it this way. It all seemed a little too cliché for Carly's liking but instead of arguing with her friend, she went over to stand behind the island in the kitchen, before she lowered her body slightly against one of the counters, so that once the light had gone off her body was amongst the shadows and you couldn't clearly make out it was her.

Before Melissa had a chance to respond, Spencer was already climbing up the steps onto the porch and heading towards one of the double doors entrance to head back into the Hastings house, completely unaware that Melissa and Carly were waiting for her inside, ready to integrate her about what the hell she was doing in the barn.

As silently as she could, Spencer turned the handle on the door and slowly stepped into the household, trying her very best to keep quiet in case anyone had heard her sneaking in and out that night.

Just as Spencer managed to come inside and had finished closing the door quietly, Melissa walked out from the shadows and spoke up which only made Spencer jump at her voice after not having suspected her inside or even at home.

"Find what you were looking for?" She asked with her arms folded crossly "You were certainly in there for long enough."

Spencer's jaw dropped a little when she saw Melissa stood there and her eyes rolled over to Carly, who was stood furthest away from the both of them, Carly's eyes awkwardly landing on Spencer's as she knew just exactly how this confrontation was going to turn out by the Hasting sisters. She was beginning to realise whether she actually wanted to be there or not when things would get ugly between them.

"I'm missing my blue sweater," Spencer answered taking her eyes off Carly and back on her older sister "you know that one with the buttons, I thought maybe it had ended up in the barn."

"Any luck?" Melissa asked clearly not buying the story.

"No not really," Spencer paused as the two siblings faced off one another, Carly wanting the ground to just swallow her up so she didn't have to listen to the two bicker that night as Spencer began to slowly walk towards them "I saw your computer. I know you were looking up flights. London. Zurich. Taiwan. So are you planning a vacation or are you running away?"

"How is that any of your business?" Melissa snapped as she stormed over to Spencer.

"I don't know Melissa, is it?" Spencer spat back.

Both of them completely ignoring the fact that Carly was in the room with them.

"I know you're helping Mona, ok? And now..." Spencer sighed as Carly felt a frown form on her face at the mention of Melissa working with Mona, a former Radley patient, also went to school with Alison and the girls, as well as tied up in the whole case, was what Spencer really saying true?

Was Melissa, her friend, her old best friend, working with some teenager to take down Alison?

"Is someone making you do something you don't want to do?" Spencer questioned further, Carly instantly know she was referring to this 'A' person, who Carly believed to be Alison all along, she just wished everyone else could see it too "Are you trying to run away?"

Melissa was set to crack, she had to hold back the tears what were forming in her eyes and the rage that was bubbling in her chest "Is this what it has come to? Searching each others room, looking for answers to questions that we're too afraid to ask. "

Spencer shrugged and sighed as Melissa came a little closer to her younger sister, Carly still awkwardly watching on in the background, somewhat surprised at what she was hearing. She didn't realise things had gotten just this bad between the two of them, as well as Melissa going to a teenager for help to take down Alison. She had not expected that from her older friend, but she must have been desperate.

"I only helped Mona because I wanted you to see that Ali hasn't changed. She is as toxic as ever," Melissa told her as Spencer remained silent and Carly hung her head low "We both know Ali wasn't kidnapped. But sooner or later she is going to get what she deserves. And I do not want you staying to close when that happens."

"So all of this is just sisterly concern?" Spencer asked unsure of whether she should believe her sister or not. But Carly certainly believed it.

"Is it really that hard to believe?" Melissa exclaimed and raised her hands up in the air in defence.

"What did you do Melissa?" Spencer asked sternly as Carly's head shot up at the question, knowing exactly what Spencer was trying to get her sister to come clean about, the whole big secret that Melissa had held onto for years and Carly had also had to keep to herself, even though she wasn't even in town when she found from her friend what she had done "And I'm asking you, to your face this time."

Melissa began to shake her head in horror and shamefully in regards to her actions, she couldn't have Spencer find out, she was so sure she would loose her for good this time "I can't tell you. Not yet."

"You're my sister!" Spencer yelled back at her as Melissa wondered over to the other side of the room, wanting to just get away from this, it had gone too far and everything was within their family was a mess "Does that mean nothing to you?"

"It means that you should know honesty does not come easy for this family." Melissa replied as Carly looked up to see what the hell was going on now.

"Ok but we can improve upon our genetics, huh? Let's at least try!" Spencer suggested back in an angry tone.

"I'm trying, Spencer." Melissa shot back at her in annoyance as she held back the tears once more. She spun round on her feet and was about to make her way out of the door, that only moments before Spencer had come in from and out of the house, when she turned back round to face the two girl's that were inside.

"It is not safe for me here," Melissa concluded as she looked between the both of them causing Carly to swallow harshly to see the sorrow look on her friends face and Spencer to stare hard at her sister in annoyance "Or for you, neither of you." Melissa continued to glance between them as Carly's head dropped to the floor again, knowing what was going to come out of Melissa's mouth next, but Carly would not follow through with her friends plans "Maybe you should both come with me."

Spencer raised her eyebrows slightly at Melissa before she bolted upstairs, out of sight from her sister and whatever the hell had gone on between them tonight, there was no way in hell she was going to run away from her problems just like Melissa always did. She needed to cool off and get away from her, she could not stand to be around her right now, when she still had not told her whatever the hell this big secret was that she was keeping from her and their mom.

Melissa watched as Spencer rushed up the stairs and the slam of the teenagers bedroom door, was enough for Melissa to break down into tears and Carly's head to be brought back up to where her friend was crying over in opposite side of the room.

Quickly she came over to her friends side and wrapped her arm around her back, before guiding the two of them to sit down on the couch in the living space. Melissa wiped her hand over her cheeks, trying to clear up her tears and the signs of her crying, she hardly ever did cry and it was certainly a first for Carly to see Melissa break down like that.

She felt guilty that Melissa had to deal with this all by herself the past few years and had to live with the guilt. She couldn't even begin to think how the two sisters must have been feeling about the events of this town, let alone how the Hastings family had suffered massively because of it. She was in some ways grateful that despite her Dad not trusting her and always on her back, she had a solid relationship with him and knew that he would never keep secrets like that from her.

"I don't know what else I can do to get Spencer to stay the hell away from that toxic bitch, Alison." Melissa said through her sobs as she glanced at Carly to the side of her, who had just unwrapped her arm from her friends back to give her some space.

"I think you've done enough Mel," Carly told her with a half smile trying to cheer her up "Spencer's a clever girl, if she can't see sense now to stay away from Alison, then she will in her own time. You've done enough to try protect her. Now it's time to think of what you're going to do for yourself. Are you really going to run away?"

"Yes," Melissa sighed "I was serious when I asked you to come with me. It's not safe for you. You have A or Alison or whoever harassing you. You have a constant reminder of your past and you working on the police team is not going to help keep it a secret."

"Mel," Carly was the one to sigh this time as she shook her head in disagreement "Before I even came back here to Rosewood, I thought long and hard about whether or not I was ready to face up to whatever issues that would come by way. And I made my decision that I could deal with it. Of course, I didn't expect it to be as hard as it has been but I'm not planning on running away any time soon. Just like you shouldn't either."

"Don't you get it Carly?" Melissa felt like she was repeating herself with Carly just like she had with Spencer before "I can't stay here any more. If the police find out about what happened that night, I am seriously toasted. I don't even know how you can be on the team without loosing your cool about all of this."

"It's not easy, trust me. But I'm willing to try and enjoy my job whatever comes my way. I've wanted this for so long and I'm not running away again," Carly told her as Melissa had finally stopped crying "If you want to leave because you think that is best, then go for it but what about Spencer?"

"I know," Melissa sighed before she stood up from the couch "that's why I've got to do what I'm about to do."

A frown appeared on Carly's face as she watched Melissa walk out of the room and she quickly rose to her feet, completely puzzled as to why her friend was so randomly going out the room without any given reason, however instead of questioning her further, she followed her out of the room and into the hall of the Hastings house.

She found Melissa inside the study of the Hastings property, where she stood holding a tripod and a camera in her hand, making Carly realise that Melissa was finally going to tell Spencer about the secret she had been keeping from almost everyday the past few years, the secret from that night that could really do some damage to Melissa, as well as Peter Hastings and Carly who had held onto the secret all this time.

Carly prayed that the tape that Melissa had recorded and was planning on giving to Spencer whilst she disappeared was kept in the right hands, as opposed to being sent to the cops for them to deal with and arrest Melissa, as well as getting Carly and Peter into trouble also for withdrawing information, putting a complete end to Carly's career just like that.

* * *

Carly arrived back at her apartment around 9pm that night, she was feeling pretty stressed and deflated after the night at the Hastings with Melissa. She had helped Melissa record the tape, before she joined her in the barn and helped her pack for her flight to England the following day.

The rest of the night between the two had been somewhat tense mainly because they both knew how much of a risk this would be letting Spencer know the secret that Melissa and Carly had kept for the whole three years. Carly had been somewhat annoyed at herself, as well as Melissa that her position on the team could be even a greater risk now this secret was being exposed.

She trusted Spencer and she hoped that the teenager would make the right decision about the tape. But there was also this glimmer of doubt in her head that said that her chances of staying on the team after this was very low. Why would the cops want to keep someone who knew such a big secret like that all along?

Sometimes Carly wished she never got herself involved with all of this mess, but then there was that reminder again telling her that she was already involved with it long before it became a mess. She was living in that horrible awful world that Alison and everyone from that year had created and were partly still living in now.

Letting an exhale escape out of her lips, Carly pulled open her bathroom door and wondered through into her bedroom, a white fluffy towel wrapped around her body and her dark brunette hair was pushed away from her face soaking wet from taking a shower.

She couldn't wait to jump into bed that night and just sleep away what had gone on tonight. She had a busy day ahead tomorrow, a fresh week where she was going to have to prove to Tanner that she had a right to stay on the team and she hoped that her report would be a great success in achieving that goal.

Just as she went over to her draws to grab a fresh pair of underwear and some clean pyjamas, the sound of a familiar ringing tone coming from her laptop on the end of bed alerted her attention and a puzzled expression formed on her face.

Wondering over to the technology device, she perched herself down on her bed and pulled the laptop onto her lap to take a closer look. Her eyes widened in surprise and nervousness when she saw that there was incoming video call from Jason on her screen, making her realise that she had hardly spoken to him all day apart from a few texts earlier on in the morning and before she jumped into the shower to tell him that she was home. Yet here he was wanting to video chat with her already, just as she had gotten out of the shower and was completely naked underneath her towel, with wet hair and a make-up-less face.

Panicking she hit the accept button on her laptop and threw it back down onto the bed, before she quickly hopped off the bed and stood in front of it, so that she was hidden from the camera in her 'I've just jumped out of the shower' state.

After a few seconds, she could clearly tell that the call had connected and Jason would be on her laptop screen sat in his hotel, probably wondering where the hell she was and why she wasn't on the camera. But it wasn't like she could just sit there in front of him with only a towel covering her body. Maybe if things were different between them, then yeah maybe she could have been comfortable but not when they had just started talking again and it was still kind of weird for them to even be in contact with each other.

"Hello? Carly?" She heard Jason's voice call out from the video call, causing her heart to beat rapidly in her chest at the sound of his voice calling her name and the realisation she had no idea how she was going to deal with this situation "Where are you?"

"Um I'm here." She spoke up shyly as she pulled her towel tighter round her body and chewed her bottom lip anxiously.

"Why aren't you on the camera?" He asked confused.

"I kind of just got out of the shower." She answered embarrassedly.

"Oh." Jason replied shocked and feeling somewhat awkward, as well trying his best to ignore the images that had just entered his head about the young woman. He really had to pull it together and stop letting his feelings get in the way.

"U-uh yeah," Carly mumbled back as she went back over to her draws to grab the underwear and pyjama's she had originally gone over there for "I'm just going to go get changed and then I'll be with you, just give me a second."

"Sure. No worries."

Sighing in relief that he was ok with it and sounded relatively normal about the whole situation, she rushed into her bathroom to dry herself off and change into the items she had picked out from her draws. Once she had successfully managed that, she took a look at herself in the bathroom mirror and let out a slight frustrated moan at the image she saw.

Her skin was slightly pink from the hot water that had hit her face from her shower, her hair was still soaking wet and in tangles around her face, she had a few spots breaking out on her chin what also looked worse from the humidity from the shower. She looked a complete mess and didn't know if she could face even going on camera on the video chat to Jason looking the way she did.

It wasn't that she was insecure. She had a pretty good self-esteem and was always proud of the way she looked, as well as the person she had turned into over the past years. She didn't consider herself 'beautiful' or someone who was a 'stunning creature' and she was never an over confident person. But she would never belittle herself just for attention or to bring pity on herself. She just considered herself average. Average height. Average weight. Just average. She had her flaws just like everyone else but she chose to embrace them.

But for some reason that night, she knew she had to make an effort to look presentable to him. Maybe because part of her wanted him to still be interested in her just as much as she was. She wanted to impress him so badly, just like she had wanted to when she was seventeen. Back when she would do anything to grab his attention or make him fall head over heels for her, because that's just how bad she wanted him back then. He was the first and only guy that ever did that for.

But why was she worried in the first place? He had seen her plenty of times looking her worse. There had been many times when Jason had to carry her back to his house after parties, with her make-up streaming down her face, her hair messy and wild, her clothes dirty from where she had fallen over outside during the outdoor parties or gatherings that they both attended. Jason had seen her in the worst of the worse and had still acted like he wanted to be with her.

Running her fingers through her hair, she tried her very best to get the knots out of her hair. before she decided to do a French braid which was one way to get her hair out of her face and would save her having to blow dry it that night.

After realising that she knew Jason had seen her a lot worse than she was looking right now, she decided to leave her face looking the way it was and not bother with trying to hide away the imperfections on her skin. Jason was a guy and most guy's wouldn't even notice those things.

Once she had finished, she hung up her towel and came back through into he room, catching a small glimpse of the laptop screen as she went past, pleased that Jason was still there waiting for her and had not decided to ditch her whilst she took her time in the bathroom.

Pulling a hoodie out of her closet, she slipped her arms through the garment and wondered over to the bed. As she sat herself down against the headboard and made herself comfortable, she pulled her laptop onto her lap and finally allowed Jason to see her properly for the first time tonight.

"There you are," He began with a grin on his face, happy to finally see her and be in contact with her again after not speaking much that day, he couldn't stop how happy he was feeling to see her "I was beginning to think that you forgotten about me."

Shaking her head in amusement, she lightly laughed under her breath and spoke up with a smirk playing on her lips "No that's not true. I've just been really busy today."

"What have you been up to?" He asked her interested to find out about her day.

"I just popped over to see Ella Montgomery, to see if I could cheer her up and find out what went down the other night." She told him as his eyebrows twitched up.

"Oh yeah? How is she?"

"She seem's ok. I mean, she's acting pretty strong for someone who just found out that their ex fiancé has been hitting on younger woman."

"God! That's awful." Jason sighed as Carly nodded in agreement "Poor Ella."

"I know! It's crazy. I don't get how people just can't stick to one person or if they're not happy, then why don't they just leave instead of tearing people apart and breaking what life they had together. It's just so wrong," Carly vented as she finally felt like she didn't have to bite her lip and could speak freely about her views without getting in trouble like she did with Tanner "Like Melissa for example. Her parents are basically over all because of some stupid affair Peter had years back..."

Before Carly could even finish what she was saying, she covered her hands over her mouth and stared wide at Jason in horror at what she had just said. She couldn't believe she had just ranted to Jason about the affair that basically had produced him into the world. She was so stupid and such an idiot for not thinking.

Why did she just have to ramble on and not think before she said thinks? Why did she always end up ruining her chances with everything and everyone?

"Jason. God I am so sorry," Carly apologised quickly as she pulled her hands away from her mouth and literally began to pray inside that he wouldn't react badly to what she had implied "I didn't mean to bring that up. I should have just kept my big mouth shut. Why am I so stupid?"

Carly couldn't even bring herself to look at him anymore. She felt disgusted by her actions and was pretty sure that Jason would also be horrified at her. There was her other chance of becoming close to him just thrown out the window just like the rest of them had.

There was a few moments of silence before Jason finally spoke up and broke the awkward tension "So you know then?"

"Uh yeah," She answered him slowly moving her eyes up to look at him and her throat went tight when she saw how relaxed he looked about it all "Melissa told me."

"You two are friends again?"

"Something like that."

She wasn't really sure if they were really friends again. They spoke occasionally and were trying to support each other with all this Alison and A stuff. But they weren't exactly on the best friend level just yet. It was going to take time. Carly was convinced Melissa was still hiding things from her and was still annoyed that Carly had not stayed in contact when in New York.

"What else did she tell you?"

"What do you mean?" Carly asked confused.

"About what went on when you were away."

"She doesn't really have to fill me in, Jason," She informed him as he frowned at her words "I basically have read it all in a file. I think I'm pretty much up to date with the events of the past three years."

"Oh yeah, of course. I forgot you were on the team now." He coughed awkwardly as she felt her palms get sweaty at how awful she felt about the situation they had landed themselves in that night "How's that working out for you?"

"It's going well."

"It's all you have ever wanted, right?"

"Right." She nodded with a light smile as silence lingered over them again.

She hated how awkward it had become between them two in only a few minutes. It was all because of her big mouth fat mouth that they were in this predicerment. Before then it had been plain sailing between the two and was actually going somewhere. Now it just felt like they were two complete strangers. It really did feel like they were ex-es.

Carly felt like she had to change this between them. She couldn't just leave it how it was because she couldn't live with herself if she knew she was the one to ruin the chance of their being something real between her and Jason. He was her first love and she never even got the chance to see just how good they could be together. There was still that hope that things could work out between them if they tried.

"Look Jason," Carly began trying to break the silence between them and thankfully it caught his attention "I should have not have brought that up. It was wrong. I know. I am really sorry about it and it's fine if you're annoyed at me. I'm still trying to get use to everything in this town again and it's not easy being on Tanner's team when you know everyone on the case. I've had to adjust to what's happened and I'm trying to find the balance between protecting the people I care about, as well as solving a crime that everyone seems so wrapped up in. But I guess what the case didn't teach me was about you. About Peter. About your mom's affair with him."

"Carly..."

"No please Jason. Let me finish," She cut in before he could and took a deep breath once he allowed her to continue on "I guess what I'm trying to say is that, if it wasn't for Melissa I would have never have probably known about Peter being your father. Before she even told me, she started along the lines of 'Have you heard about me and Jason?' and I hated how much my heart sank. I'll be honest with you. I thought that you two had made a thing of it. I thought you guys were like engaged or something. I know it sound's so ridiculous but you two were the only few out of our group left, so I thought you had ended up together."

"No way." Jason chuckled lightly under his breath at her accusation, before his face went serious and Carly's heart was still pounding loudly in her chest "I haven't been with anyone since..."

"Since me?"

"Since you." He clarified.

"You didn't have girlfriend? You didn't ate anyone or anything since that summer?" She asked surprised that all this time he hadn't been involved with anyone whatsoever.

She was so convinced he had because there was no way in hell she thought he would have waited for her or anything remotely close after how suddenly it had ended between the pair.

"Nope. There was one person though. It was over a year ago or so. It was stupid." Jason told her with a drop to his head as Carly twitched her eyebrows up at this new news.

"Who was she?" Carly asked wanting to find out more.

"Aria." Jason admitted to her and Carly felt her jaw drop slightly.

Was she really hearing what he was saying? Did he just say Aria as in Aria Montgomery, the same girl she considered a little sister not that long ago and had countless of run ins with the past few weeks over this whole case, had been someone he had been interested in?

"Aria? As in Aria Montgomery?" She questioned more as Jason nodded in response with a slight shameful expression on his face.

He was expecting Carly to be disappointed or even disgusted with him. His time now to ruin the chances of the two of them being an actual 'them'.

"Why Aria?" She wanted to what possed Jason to go for the younger girl.

"To be honest, I have no idea. We got kind of close whilst Ali was missing. I confined in her about Alison and the past. I guess I misinterpretated the feelings I thought I had for as just someone I thought I could talk to about everything," He explained to her as she lowered her head slightly "I guess she reminded me a lot like someone I use to be close to."

Carly's head rolled back at this and she titled it to the side slightly, trying to work out what or whom he was referring to. From the smile that had crept onto Jason's face, she was somehow guessing that Aria reminded him of her. Jason felt like when he was talking to Aria, he was still confiding in Carly like they had back in the day when they were both close.

"She reminded me of you?"

Jason nodded "Yeah. You had just stopped babysitting her and Mike when we became close. But she still looked up to you as a big sister and I knew that you cared about her a lot."

"Still trying to." Carly sighed as she shook her head and got back on track "What happened between you two?"

"You really want to know?"

"Yes. I have time." Carly told him with a smirk on her lips.

"Don't you think it's weird?" Jason laughed lightly as Carly shook her head with the same smirk on her lips. She hated how much Jason made her smile all the time.

"Why would it be weird?" Carly asked him.

"I don't know," He shrugged with a twitch on her lips "Because we have history together, I feel like my ex-girlfriend is integrating me about who I have been with since you know..."

"Since we basically were planning on running away together to New York after spending a whole year of trying to ignore the fact that we had feelings for each other, then when we reunite three years later you end up in my bed and I kick you out of the house the next morning like nothing never happened?"

"Yeah," Jason couldn't help but burst into laughter at the reality of the situation, even though it was a serious matter and definitely not something to be taken lightly when it had caused heart ache for both of them "something like that."

"God this is so messed up." Carly complained as she threw her hands over her face and joined in the laughter with Jason.

After a while the laughter died down between the pair of them, Carly removed her hands from her face and glanced across at Jason who was on the laptop screen. She traced her eyes over him, taking in everything about him and trying to ignore the ever growing stupid the stupid grin that matched his appear on her face.

Jason was right. It was so weird between the both of them. However much they tried to push away the feelings of awkwardness and weirdness. It was still there. There was still so much unsaid, that they they didn't know about each other over the past few years and what they didn't even want to speak to each other about what happened even when they were close. They were nowhere near ready to go down that road.

But what road where they even headed on? Could you have even called them friends? Them being friends after all of this time apart just sounded weird, especially when before they had been so much more than that.

"Jason," Carly said quietly as he looked back at her, his eyes seeming like they had never left her's that evening even when things had got awkward with the whole 'Peter' thing and that was soon forgotten about, he knew Carly meant no harm "This feel's so wrong between us. You know it's wrong don't you?" His silence was enough for Carly to know the answer and for her to continue on "But at the same time. It feel's so right. It feel's so natural when it comes to you. I don't feel like I have to force myself to be somebody else like I do in this crazy town, like I did throughout high school and even now at work. I feel like I have to be someone just to keep my job and impress Tanner. But when I'm with you. I feel seventeen again with my whole life ahead of me and like I have the chance to break the rules all over again. I love the thrill."

Carly found herself smiling through every word and she couldn't believe how easy it still was to explain how she really felt to Jason. It felt like she was beginning to accept her feelings more and more everyday. Not for her Dad or Brooke or anyone who tried to make her feel different. But for herself.

"I don't want that to stop."

"It doesn't have to," Jason reminded her with a side smile "I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

 **Author note: I am back! Only for this week though! I'm still behind on writing and I have a couple more chapters to go till I get where I want to be. But I thought I would share the next part with you guys! I hope you like it and has made you want to read more!**

 **Special thanks to karma3825, Lauren212, Gigi103 and RHatch89!**

 **Next update will either be within the next few weeks. Either next week, the week after or the week after that. So keep your eyes peeled for that!**

 **Feel free to leave a review in the mean time! I appreciate it.**

 **Thank you so much for reading,**

 **xx**


	25. Finding Your Feet

**Finding Your Feet:**

Carly tried her best to hide back a yawn the following morning, as she leant her back against the desk that was situated in her fathers office and was busy waiting for her report to print out. The same report that was due in today for Tanner to read over and for Carly to hopefully impress her enough, to make her Lieutenant aware that she made the right decision about keeping the younger woman on her team after the past week's incidents.

The yawn that had tried to escape her mouth on several occasions was simply no use this time. She was feeling fairly tired and like she could do with another few hours of sleep. However that was impossible for her to carry out when she had to wake up earlier than usual that morning, so she could go over to her Dad's to print out the report since she didn't have a printer in her apartment and still be in on time for work that started at 9 am sharp.

If she would have gone to bed earlier, she probably would have not been feeling so sleepy and exhausted. The main reason why she had gone to bed a little later than her usual schedule and what she had originally planned was all because of the long two hour video chat she ended up having with Jason.

Throughout the video call the pair had gotten to know more about each other, they got to know more about what they both got up to in the three year gap that they happened to be apart. He told her all about what happened when he took off from college and went travelling which interested her highly as she never would have considered him the adventurous type before. On the other hand, she explained to him all about her college years and the memories she made with the girl's she got close to.

Jason loved seeing how happy she was to reminisce about her time spent at college and the new friends she had made. He was pleased that she had an amazing college experience and did it in a different way to most college students who would go there only to party. Jason could tell that the memories she did make were ones that had helped her become the person she was today, instead of the one that he had remembered from back in the day when she was last in Rosewood.

From his point of view he could still see parts of Carly Monroe that he remembered from that year of when they grew closer. She was still the same girl deep down. Still the same girl he wanted to have around, still the same girl he wanted to keep safe and make happy even by the simplest of things. And whilst she was still the same girl, he still felt those exact same feelings that he did back then.

He hated knowing that there was this barrier in between them right now, that couldn't be destroyed because it could damage either of them in different ways all over again. Jason wasn't sure he was ready to take that chance yet of messing up her life again after the last time and what consequence it had to make her leave town so suddenly, without even a goodbye.

But for Carly, she loved speaking to Jason again and being able to share with him just exactly how she was feeling, as well as tell him all about the past three years of her life. Of course, she missed out all the messy parts of her recovery and only included the positive times that she experienced living in New York. But being able to communicate with him, without anyone telling her not to or stopping her felt so good. She was so happy that for once she was being able to just be her.

She was so grateful that she was getting the chance to be in contact with him, even if it wasn't in person and it was still a long way from getting anywhere to what they use to be. In reality, they probably would never be what they use to be. She had grown up a huge amount. She wasn't seventeen any more and even if she did feel like it when she was talking to Jason, she sure as hell did not act like seventeen year old Carly any more. The new Carly was a lot more mature and aware of her actions. She knew what she was doing, even if it didn't seem like it sometimes.

The sound of her Dad's voice broke her out of her yawning and the thoughts that had been circling in her head whilst she waited for the printing "Hey Kiddo. How's it going in here?" John asked his daughter as he came into his study to check on her.

"It's alright," She answered him with a light smile as the printing finally finished and she went to take the papers out of the machine "Thank you again for letting me use this."

"It's no trouble. I don't mind having my daughter come to visit me in the morning when I have been up all night working. It makes a nice change from just coming home to an empty house and going straight to bed." John said with a slight sadness to his voice.

Carly couldn't help but feel guilty about hearing her Dad say that, when she knew if she didn't go half the things she went through in her past then she would also be living in the house she grew up in with her Dad, instead of living in her own apartment in the centre of town. Carly and her Dad agreed it was best if she had her own space, for a new fresh start, rather than being reminded of her past by living in her old house.

"You know I would come stay a couple day's a week if you wanted me to." Carly suggested as she spun round on her feet to face him and grabbed a paper-clip off the side to join her papers together.

"No it's fine. You don't want to be living with your old Dad at this age. You want to have some independence and your own space." He smiled back at her reassuringly.

"But it does get kind of lonely." She told him with a slight pout on her face.

"Are you still working on Brooke coming to live with you?" John asked with a slight smirk on his face.

"Yes," Carly sighed as she slipped her papers inside a see through folder and placed it into her tote bag "It's still a work in progress. I hate not having any friends my age here. I feel like a loner."

"What about Detective Holbrook or anyone on the force? Haven't you made friends with them?" Her father questioned her with raised eyebrows and Carly couldn't help but roll her eyes at the mention of Detective Holbrook again.

She knew her Dad was implying that if she got closer to Holbrook, there would be the possibility of a relationship between the two and John would be able to finally see his daughter move on from Jason. However John had no idea Carly had already ventured down that road and had decided it was a no go.

"No not really," She answered honestly "Most of them are male. Either twice my age or just out of school and going into the cop training programme. I miss just having a girl best friend. Someone I can talk to about girl stuff, you know?"

"I wouldn't know actually." John laughed as Carly shook her head again with a light laugh under her breath.

Carly was right. She really did miss having a girl best friend in Rosewood. Someone she could talk to about her troubles at work, someone she could trust with her big secrets, someone she could go to about fashion advice or boy advice, someone she could sit in front of the couch and watch movies with whilst stuffing their face with pizza.

She knew that Brooke was still so focused on building her career up in New York and the chances of her coming to Rosewood to live and work were very slim. She just wished that she could do best friend type things with Brooke again. It really was boring not having anyone like Brooke in Rosewood.

There was Melissa. But she was always getting out of town and running away from her problems. Carly still wasn't sure if she could even trust her 100% yet. Melissa also hated Jason with a passion and she could no way in hell tell her about what she had been up to with Jason behind closed doors.

Just like Melissa was unaware of Jason and Carly's slow involvement with one another, John was also out of the know about the times she had met up with Melissa since being back and how they had sort of rekindled their friendship.

Carly wanted John to trust her again. She wanted that so badly. She felt like if she took the first step and told her about Melissa. He would understand just how serious she was about making things right for her this time in town. Maybe he wasn't ready to know about Jason just yet, when Carly herself didn't have any idea where things were headed. But if she was honest with him about Melissa then maybe it would show him that she really had changed.

"Dad..." Carly spoke grabbing his attention and breaking the silence in the room "I was thinking there is something I need to tell you. Something about someone I have actually gotten close to."

"Go on." He pressed his face instantly going serious.

And Carly knew that just by the sudden change of expression on his face that he was expecting the worst from her. He always did these days when it came to her getting closer to other people or letting her make her own choices in life.

It wasn't only his expression that changed. But instead of feeling tired, Carly suddenly felt so nervous opening up to her Dad and she was already fearing the bad reaction that he would portray once he found out his daughter with communicating with someone from her past.

"I don't want you to freak out. Promise me you won't freak out?" Carly begged him with desperate eyes as John shook his head clearly not in the mood for this. He just wanted to know now.

"Just tell me, Carly."

"You have to promise me, Dad."

"I'm not promising you anything Carly," John told her straight as he crossed his arms clearly not in the mood for this delay "Now tell me."

"Fine," Carly huffed as she tucked her hair behind her ear and took a deep breath "I've been talking to Melissa Hastings again. Look I know she was one of the many you told me I had to stay away from. But she only wanted and still does want what's best for me."

"Melissa? Melissa Hastings?" John repeated surprised that Carly would want anything to do with the Hastings family after what had gone on the past few years.

"Yes Dad. Melissa Hastings." Carly confirmed with an eye roll, already knowing where this was headed.

"Why? Tell me why Carly?" John demanded with annoyance about how calm she was about it all.

"Because she is one of the few that really looked out for me back then. She was nothing but good to me. She always made sure I was safe and tried to get me out of trouble. I was friends with her a long time before I got involved with the wrong crowd, Dad. You know I was! Melissa is still someone I feel I can rely on through the hard times. She still cares about me and we want to make our friendship work again. Please Dad. You have to understand that she was one of the good ones. Not the bad. I swear to you." Carly explained to her Dad in a desperate tone.

She wanted him to believe her so bad and she hated how whiny she sounded. But it was so hard to get through to him sometimes because he was so convinced everyone from her past was no good for her. That they had ruined her. But that was far from the truth. She had ruined herself by her behaviour and actions. It was never their fault.

"Carly," John sighed as he shook his head and walked past her to the other side of the study they were in trying to calm his anger "I thought we had a deal."

"We do," Carly assured him as she also took a few steps over to him "that hasn't changed. But you have to let me do what's right for me."

"And that means being friends with Melissa?" John asked unsure he liked his daughters decision.

The Hastings were always caught up in the gossip of the town due to the youngest daughter Spencer being wrapped up in the Alison DiLaurentis kidnapping story and Melissa having experienced the death of two previous ex-boyfriends. John was not sure he liked the idea of his daughter being associated with someone who was heavily involved with the negative press of Rosewood.

"That means having friends I can actually rely on and go to for support who don't live miles away in another state or having to rely on my Dad who is always working. It means putting my trust in an old friend that was always looking out for me and still wants to make something of our friendship," She tried to reason with him and tell him how it really was all whilst he stared at the ground unreadable "Please Dad. Just trust me."

"I do trust you, Carls," John sighed as he brought his head up to look at his daughter "I just don't trust anyone else."

"Well if you only trust me, then trust me on that I am making the right decision."

"How many times have you seen her?" John asked still unsure and wanting to know more.

"Only three or four times, she's been over to the apartment and we've also been out for lunch together." She informed him with a slight smile.

"And do you plan on seeing her any more?"

"To be honest, probably not as she's just gone back to London. The only communication I'll have with her now is by text." Carly replied.

"I see," John nodded as he took a long hard look at his daughter and let out a large sigh "I know you want friends in this town again, Carly. I can imagine being your age and being so alone is hard. I get that. I know you want Brooke to move here and be with you, as well as have me around more. But that's not going to happen right now. So I suppose I'll just have to get use to the idea of you and Melissa being friends again."

"Are you serious?" Carly gasped unsure that she was even hearing her Dad right, as she was pretty sure they were only minutes away from falling into an argument over this but she had no idea he would actually be ok with it.

"Yes," John replied with a light smile "I can see how happy you are knowing you do have friends, friends that actually helped you and want what's best for you."

Carly grinned back at her Dad, shocked and so happy that he was finally allowing her to make her own choices, as well as be able to be friends with who she wanted. It was great that in the end he had reacted well to the news and she could be honest with him. She hated keeping secrets from him, but she just didn't want to ruin her relationship with him by letting him know that she might have broken the 'supposed rules' he had set for her to follow. It was the start of a great change.

"Thank you so much, Dad." Carly wondered over to him and threw her arms around his middle, pulling him into a big embrace which he instantly returned by wrapping his own arms around her body and holding her into him.

After a few moments, the father and daughter pulled away from each other. Carly grinned up at him once more and planted a light kiss on his cheek, before she went over to grab her bag off the desk chair and hooked it over her shoulder.

"I should probably head to work," She told him as she adjusted the strap on her arm "Thank you for understanding and letting me use your printer."

"It's no trouble, Carls," John smiled back at her "I'll let you get going. Have a good day at work."

"Thank you," She returned the smile as she headed to the exit of the study so she could make her way out of the house and make her way to work in her car "I'll text you later tonight. Have a good sleep."

* * *

Jumping out her car around twenty minutes later, the butterflies she had try to suppress from when she had first woken up that morning were unfortunately for Carly soon returning. They had slightly gone away when she had been at her Dad's and was busy printing out her report, the report being one of the reasons why she had been feeling nervous, but also because she knew that Tanner would be keeping a close eye on her now after what happened last week.

There was no room for mistakes. There was no room for messing up now. There was no more excuses for her to make to try get Tanner back on her side. This was it now. She knew she had to decided whether or not she was really going to follow through with the rules completely, such as staying away from Melissa and Aria. That also included cutting off ties with Jason which Tanner thankfully had no idea about.

But part of her knew that she wasn't that much of a horrible person to just randomly stop talking to any of them, especially Jason who she had grown closer to within the past few days and had been texting him already that morning, as well as Aria who Carly wanted to try protect at all costs during this case.

She just knew she had to be careful when it came to communicating with the people she cared about. She knew it was taking a massive risk going against the rules and what Tanner wanted from her.

Some could even consider her crazy for even staying in contact with them after how much her job had been put on the line the past few days. For someone who had so much passion and goals to progress in the field of work she was interested in, it was the completely wrong move and was jeopardising everything she had worked hard for since her childhood.

Yet however bizarre it sounded. Carly would risk everything to be with Jason. She would also make sure that Aria was protected at all costs. She couldn't see the innocent girl she once knew so well go down to a crime that she wasn't even guilty of or just got dragged up in. Also she couldn't let Melissa get washed up in the mess also. She owed a lot to Melissa.

Shaking her head at her thoughts, she closed the drivers side door of her car up and adjusted her bag strap on her arm. Locking up her car without dropping the coffee cup she had in her hand, she began to make her way up the front path and steps towards the entrance of the station.

Once she was inside the building, she wondered over to the office that she shared with Holbrook that was currently closed and the lights were off inside, suggesting that Holbrook was yet to arrive or out of the office. She felt like she had hardly seen him recently and knew that she would be seeing him a lot less since she was going to be living her shifts in the station for some time.

Pressing her hand down on handle of the office door, she carefully pushed it open and wondered inside. Thankfully, the lights in the office happened to be censored so once she was most of the way inside the lights switched on and lit up the office.

She laid her bag and her coffee mug down onto the desk in front of her, whilst she pulled off her leather jacket and her eyes flickered up to the clock on the centre of one of the walls. It was just a few minutes until 9 am, when Tanner would be expecting Carly in her office with her finished report.

She quickly hooked her jacket over her chair and placed her bag down onto her seat, before she picked up her coffee and took a large swig out of the substance, then proceed towards the trash can in the room to get rid of the coffee that she knew she wouldn't finish in time and didn't want to leave lying around whilst she was out of the room.

Grabbing her report out of her bag, she slowly began her journey out of the office and towards Tanner's. Her heart was already beginning to pick up speed with every step she took across the marble floor. The faces and figures in the foyer of the station were like a blur to her, as she kept her eyes focused on Tanner's office door and the realisation that this report better impress Tanner or she was pretty sure she would probably end up out for good.

Raising her hand up into her fist, she knocked lightly on the door and grabbed Tanner's attention almost immediately, like Tanner had been waiting for her closely. Seeing Carly stood through the gaps upon the blind through the window on the door, Tanner raised her own hand up and ushered Carly into her office.

Taking a deep breath and pressing her hand down onto the door handle, she gently pushed it open and took a slow step inside the office "Good morning Lieutenant Tanner." She greeted in the best possible cheery tone she could, pushing her nerves aside for the time being and focusing on what was important.

"Good morning Carly." The older woman greeted back in a less cheery tone, due to being exhausted from working on the case into the late hours with very little sleep.

"I finished the report you wanted." Carly informed her as she closed the door behind herself and came towards Tanner's desk more.

"Brilliant," Tanner smiled at her as Carly passed it over across the desk and into the Lieutenant's hand's "I'll have to give it a read later and email you the feedback, since I've got so much to do today for the case."

"Of course," Carly nodded with a light smile "I understand."

"If it is anything like your other work, then I am expecting amazing results from this." Tanner said as she saved the report in the air before she placed it on top of a pile of folders.

Why was Tanner acting so friendly towards her after what happened last week,? When she had been so close to throwing the trainee detective out of the station.

"Let's hope so." Carly laughed lightly and somewhat awkwardly, hoping that she had done enough.

"I got my assistant to leave you a list of jobs to carry out for the day and obviously you'll be on call to help her out whenever needed as we arranged at the end of last week," and there it was, the reminder of what happened Tanner told her "Detective Holbrook is out on assignment again, so it will only be yourself in the office today."

"Ok," Carly nodded before Tanner looked down at a sheet of paper in front of her, like she was completely forgetting that Carly was stood in the room with her "If that's everything then, I guess I'll get to work."

Just as Carly had spun around on her feet and was about to leave the office, so that she could go to her own one and focus on her work for the day, Tanner called her back and made her turn back round to face her boss.

"There is one thing, Miss Monroe." The Lieutenant said with a slight sly tone in her voice which could only worry Carly about what was to come.

"What is it?" She asked with a questionable look on her face as her nerves crept back again.

"Who do you think killed Bethany Young?" Tanner questioned as she glanced up from the paper and back at her trainee detective who could only frown in response to the question in surprise and uncertainty was this some kind of test? "Do you think it was one of the girls? Do you think it was Spencer, Aria, Alison, Hanna or Emily?"

For a few moments, all Carly could do was remain silent. She couldn't believe Tanner was really asking her to answer this question. Of course, she unfortunately knew who actually killed her and she hated the fact that she happened to be in the know. She wished so bad that she didn't know. She wished so bad that these two cases didn't have to be linked. Her whole career could be over if Tanner found out that Carly knew who killed Bethany Young, the same night Alison went missing and Carly had to leave town so abruptly.

However it was like Tanner was testing to see where Carly's loyalty's lied. If they were with the actual case and solving it, or did they lie instead with protecting the girls. It was a test that Carly wasn't even sure she knew the answers to, purely because she was still so unsure about where her own loyalties lied. She wanted to become a successful detective and wanted to impress Tanner so much that she would get qualified quicker, to do her job properly and solve crimes for the sake of the victims. But she still wanted to protect the girls she once new, especially Aria. The balance was so hard. She wouldn't let the girl's go down for a crime they didn't even commit.

"Um, I-i-i think that I can see the connections and why you would suggest the girls being a theory of killing Bethany Young. But from the way I see it and have gathered from the information I've collected from the case, that there is no way that the girl's could have managed to kill a random girl they didn't even know coincidently the same night Alison was kidnapped. It just doesn't make sense to me. They had no idea who this Bethany Young was for starters. They have no motive to kill some girl who escaped Radley. They were just four innocent teenagers in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's how I see it, Lieutenant Tanner."

Tanner gave her a long hard look that was enough to make Carly's throat go tight and dry at. This certainty did have to be some test. She hoped that she had done enough to pass. Honestly she believed that the girls were not capable of murder, there was no way that they could have been and for it to be the same night that Alison had supposedly gone missing, was too much of a coincidence for it to be even true. Even though she had heard Aria and Spencer talking yesterday about some big secret and how it was self-defence, Carly had ignored the idea of them actually having killed someone at all, it certaintly couldn't have been Bethany because Carly already knew who did. Yet it was too easy for Tanner to pin point it on being the five teenagers.

"I'll make a note of that," Tanner said after a while and just as the phone in her office began to ring "Thank you for your time, Miss Monroe. I look forward to reading your report."

"Thank you." Carly replied back, before she made her way out of the office so Tanner could answer her call and Carly could get the hell away from the awkwardness that kept lingering whenever she was around her boss.

She hoped that the awkwardness would soon go away. She hoped the report would be enough to make Tanner see that she had made the right decision by keeping Carly on the force. She hoped that she would even take Carly's opinion on the killer of Bethany in to consideration because she could not see the girl's or Aria go down for a murder. She hoped that Tanner or any of the other cops or detectives never even considered the actual 'killer' a suspect.

She couldn't see her friend go down for committing a crime that happened to be an accident and an act of protection on their part. Carly had to make sure that she was on high alert with anything relating to Bethany Young's murder, as well as making sure that if she was ever asked to tell her opinion again that she was extra careful.

In this circumstance, Carly was pretty sure she knew where her loyalties laid and that was with protecting the people she cared about.

* * *

Her shift that day at the station seemed to go by fairly normally. It didn't zoom by yet it didn't drag either. Carly was somewhat thankful for that, as she knew if it had dragged by she would be in a cloud of worries and anxious thoughts that would eat her up, making her appear on edge and nervous for the rest of the day. Instead, she was able to keep busy by completing the tasks that had been set for her that day and helping out on the front of the desk.

When lunch time had come around, Carly had made her way to the Brew for her usual grilled sandwich, some form of cake choice and a nice coffee lunch choice to keep her going for the rest of the day. During her lunch break, she had actually ended up talking to Jason for most of it, who was actually taking his own break for the day after spending the morning showing tenants around properties in Philly.

Things between them since last night, had been more than perfect actually which was quite surprising and a little scary at the same time. Carly couldn't believe how quickly things were moving between them and knew that the reason was because that they had so much history together. They had never ended on bad terms which made it in some ways a hell lot easier to just carry on from where they left off.

Of course, there was still some areas of their 'relationship' that had never been touched on or needed a bit of work on. But they both knew it would take time and that what they had going on now was far from a perfect fairy tale. At the moment, they were just content with talking to each other and acting like things between them were just carrying on from before.

Sometimes when Carly was alone, she wondered what it would have been like if Jason had actually came with her to New York that year. She wondered if they would have moved into an apartment together and had actually started a proper relationship with each other like they had planned. Also she thought about whether things would have actually worked between them and if they would still be together.

She felt kind of stupid for having those thoughts, especially when she was back at college and couldn't help but think back to him and what was happening in Rosewood. They had stopped for a while, when she had tried to start dating again and when she had gotten even more busy with her college work. But it was like as soon as her dating relationships went sour with guys and when she started looking to start building a life back up in Rosewood, her mind would fall back onto Jason and the thoughts that circled him.

It was like a magnet to her. Sometimes it could make her feel comfortable and content. Other times it would make her feel lonely, upset and hurt that she never got the chance to properly try with him. It made her struggle to sleep more than usual. It made her want to hide away from the world. But other times, she wanted to get on the plane to Rosewood and go be there for him, especially when all the Alison stuff began to happen.

But of course, she couldn't go do that. That's why she was so grateful and was not holding back this time for making things work between her and Jason. It felt like this was her last final chance to start over properly with him and actually get to live her life for herself instead of trying to please everybody around her.

They were far away from being the perfect couple or even being together at all. But as long as she got to talk to him on a daily basis and got to share her experiences with him, as well as him sharing his own. She didn't mind if they were still unsure of where things were headed because as long as she knew he was there for her, what else mattered?

It was a huge risk with regards to her career. But so far, she was just having fun and finding her feet again. What was so wrong with that?

* * *

Carly left the station later on that day after she had completed all her tasks for the day and she had stayed a little later than planned due to their being so much work to help Tanner's assistant with. She had also got a chance to complete some of the tasks that Holbrook had sent over to her to do, since he was still out of the office and wouldn't be able to get back to complete them in time.

After the long and hard working day, she couldn't wait to get home and just relax for the rest of the evening. It was beneficial to her moods and it would also help clear any anxious thoughts she did have circling around. Also she was pretty sure some Mr DiLaurentis would want to spend the evening talking to her and she couldn't wait to be able to speak to him again properly.

Jumping into her car, she reversed out of her parking spot outside of the station and onto the road, heading back towards her apartment for the rest of the evening. Within only five minutes of her journey home and only a few yards away from turning down towards her street, the sound of her phone ringing and vibrating in her bag alerted her attention.

Her phone was sat beside her bag against the passenger seat of the car, the screen was lighting up with a number that Carly did not recognise nor did she have her in phone book. An instant wave of panic rushed through her veins as the first suspect of who it could have been flashed through her mind.

If this was -A or Alison trying to mess her around her and cause some sort of reaction with her, Carly was sure enough that this time she was ready to speak her mind. She wasn't going to let herself just be walked over and because of the long day she had experienced, she just wanted there to be no threatening messages or anything of the sort sent her way.

Knowing she couldn't leave the phone ringing nor answer it whilst she was driving, she slowly pulled over her car onto the side of the road and leant across it to answer the call, hoping that whoever this was had a pretty good reason to be calling her so randomly and on an unknown number.

"Hello?" She answered somewhat nervous of who it could have been.

"Hi? Is this Carly?" She heard a familiar female voice question down the other end of the phone and Carly raised her eyebrows up in confusion.

"Who is this?" Carly asked not wanting to give away who she was just yet, in case it was A or Alison, maybe even Eric trying to provoke her.

"It's Spencer." The person on the other end told her and it wasn't until she listened again to the voice that she knew that it really was Spencer on the other end of the call.

But how the hell did Spencer know her number and why she was calling so randomly that evening?

"Spencer," Carly said surprised and cleared her throat awkwardly that she had been so nervous "Hi."

"I know this is probably really unexpected and you're probably wondering why I'm contacting you, but I need your help." Spencer informed her with a slight desperation in her tone.

"Sure," Carly answered almost immediately, always happy to help and if she was in trouble even more so, she felt like she had to for Melissa's sake "What's up?"

"Can you come over?" Spencer asked her simply.

"Right now?"

"Please."

Carly's eyes rolled over to the dashboard in her car, her eyes focusing onto the digital clock in the middle of the dash, knowing that she should have really have been going home to eat some dinner, have a shower and chill for the rest of the night before her early morning shift again at work. She didn't know if she really had the time or should have been even going to the rescue after what happened last week. She was already taking a massive risk by being in contact with Jason.

But she couldn't help but want to go help Spencer for whatever reason it was. It was in her nature to want to help people. It was the whole reason why she had considered a job in the law enforcement, purely so she could help out victims and give them justice. She felt like now Melissa was out of town, that she owed it to her friend to look out for Spencer and if Spencer had gone all this effort to ring her up, ask her to come round and seek her help, then all Carly could do was try her best to help out in the situation.

"I'll be there in ten."

* * *

The car wheels rolled across the gravel track and the vehicle came to a stop outside the Hastings gates. Turning off the engine, Carly glanced around at the two properties that neighboured one another and what Carly had experienced many memories, inside and out of the two properties, some which were some of the best times of her life and others that she wish she could forget.

On the way over to the Hastings house, Carly's anxiety had began to build due to the ever growing worries in her head. She was freaking out about so much, that she really had to pull it together and sort herself out. Spencer had asked her around for help. It had to be pretty important since she could have gone to any of her friends for her help, yet she choose to the trainee detective to go to out of everyone. For that reason, she had to act strong and like she could actually offer her assistance, because if not she could really embarrass herself.

Also she was having so many negative and panicked thoughts, such as what if this was some trap done by the police or Alison to lure Carly there. What if the cops really wanted to see where her loyalties lied, so made the girl's get involved and was using Spencer being in trouble as a way to get Carly there. On the other hand, what if this was -A or Alison's way of scaring Carly out of Rosewood for good.

She hoped that Spencer wouldn't actually do this to her. Carly considered Spencer a nice girl and she hoped that her impression was actually a good judgement of character. If not, she wasn't sure how she was going to be able to get out of this and was just praying with every fibre in her that it would all work out ok, whatever it was.

Climbing out of her car, she grabbed her phone and shoved her bag down under she seat, before she locked it up and made her way over to the gate to request entrance into the property. After she had buzzed and Spencer had allowed her access, the gates opened up and Carly made her way into the back yard of the Hastings, trying her hardest to push away her feelings and focus on helping out the younger girl, as she had requested her to do so.

Spencer was already waiting for her at the back door entrance, Carly gave her a shy smile as she stepped into the house and made her way through into the kitchen/sitting area of the Hastings house, what had been in not even twenty four hours before, when she had witnessed the Hastings's sisters at each others throats and had to deal with an upset Melissa.

Once Carly was inside the house, Spencer closed the door behind and followed Carly into the kitchen area. Almost immediately, Carly's gaze fell on the envelope on the kitchen island beside a laptop, the envelope that Melissa had in her own per session just last night and Carly could only presume that it what Spencer needed her for.

Spencer joined Carly in the kitchen area of the property, her eyes trailing down to where Carly was looking and it was all Spencer needed to realise that Carly was also in know about what Melissa's big secret was, just by the way she was staring down at the envelope, like it was familiar to her. And of course, it was.

"You're probably wondering why I asked you to come over," Spencer began breaking the silence and both of their gazes off the envelope and onto each other instead "It does have to do with Melissa. She gave me your number, so that I could contact you if I needed to."

Carly nodded now understanding that's how Spencer had ended up with the number. She just hoped the rest of this matter was plain sailing and nothing too dramatic, such as the worst case scenarios she had thought about.

She really did hope that Spencer would be able to cope with all of this and wouldn't make any rash decisions in the heat of the moment.

"She also gave me this." Spencer informed her as she picked up the envelope off the island and opened it up, before she pulled out a cd envelope with a disc inside, that Carly already knew had the tape recording on.

Carly took in an anxious breath, as Spencer held the disc in her hands and stared hard at Carly, like if she did long enough then Carly would break and tell Spencer everything. But it wasn't Carly's place to tell Spencer what was on that recording. The whole point of the tape was so Spencer could watch it and decide what to do with it herself. It was also partly an easy way of Melissa to get out of the situation by not actually verbally saying her big dark secret to her younger sister face to face.

"Do you know what this is?" Spencer asked her even though she clearly already knew the answer to that.

"Yes," Carly answered straight "I do."

"It got sent to me in the mail earlier on today," Spencer explained and Carly already knew what Melissa plan was "And Melissa's just disappeared. Why couldn't she stay here to tell me herself?"

Carly sighed noticing how distressed Spencer was by this and she hated that she happened to be in the middle of all this. To others they might have even thought that Melissa was just leaving Carly with the mess to deal with all by herself, whilst she ran away and tried to pretend whatever happened wasn't real.

"I don't know, Spencer. All I do know is that she wants to tell you the truth and by leaving you that disc is her way of doing that. She's leaving it up to you now to decide whether you're going to watch it and what you're going to do with it. It's in your hands now." Carly tried to explain to her the best possible way she could and also reassure her at the same time that Melissa was being totally honest now.

"But I don't even understand what she did!" Spencer exclaimed with a frustrated sigh.

"That's why you have to watch it," Carly instructed her in a calm manner "You'll understand fully then."

Before Spencer could make a comment back, the sound of Carly's phone ringing and vibrating in her blazer pocket filled the quiet Hastings house. Awkwardly, Carly pulled her phone out and looked down at the caller ID, her eyes widening in horror when she saw it was Jason calling her.

"Uh..." Carly mumbled glancing back up from her phone and over to Spencer "I have to take this outside. This is your chance to finally find out Spencer. Don't waste it."

Not wanting to leave Jason waiting any longer, she headed towards one of the double back door exits of the room they were situated in and went outside to take the call, where she could have some privacy away from Spencer with her phone call with Jason and Spencer could also have the time alone to watch the recording without Carly's watchful eyes.

Carefully she closed the door up and peeped back through the glass, seeing that Spencer had then pulled her laptop over to in front of her and Carly could only presume the teenager was finally going to watch it.

Turning her head back round and wondering down the few steps of decking in the Hastings back yard, Carly pressed the 'answer button' and pulled the phone up to her ear "Hello Jason."

"Hey," He replied back cheery which could only make her break out into a smile almost immediately as per usual "Where are you? You promised me a video chat when you got back from work."

"Oh god," She groaned and ran her spare hand over her face guilty "I am so sorry I completely forgot. I have just been so busy with work, I was up so early this morning and I have got a bit held up somewhere. I really am sorry."

It was true. It had totally slipped her mind. She had got hardly any sleep last night, then had to be up early to go to her Dad's, then she had been working all day and now this thing with Spencer. She had completely forgot and felt so guilty about it all.

"No it's fine," Jason assured her even though she still felt bad about all of this "Just don't stand me up."

"I'll try not to, but only if you can promise me that you can wait" Carly joked as they both broke into laughter "Give me an hour or so, then I'll be there. I've just got to go home, have a shower and some dinner, then I'll be with you."

"Deal. I look forward to it." Jason replied and Carly could just imagine his smile down the other side of the phone. She really couldn't wait to see him already.

"Me too," Carly smirked back, as she peered her head over to the back door, where Spencer was still inside the house and hopefully watching the tape, a reminder of why Carly was at the Hastings in the first place "I have to go. But I'll speak to you later."

"Ok sure," He answered "See you."

"See you later." Carly chimed before she pulled the cell phone away from her ear, pressed the 'end' button on the device and turned round on her feet to go see how Spencer was getting on.

She really hoped that Spencer was going to act strong through all of this. She hoped that she wouldn't run off and do something crazy in the moment. In some ways, Carly was counting on Spencer to think this through and remain calm, instead of acting on an impulse. It wasn't just Melissa who would get in trouble, Carly and Peter would also. She couldn't risk losing her job any more then she already had/was.

Going back over to the door, she pressed her hand down onto the handle and glanced through the glass at Spencer. Gently she opened up the door and stepped back into the home just as Spencer had finished watching the tape Melissa had left her.

Carly found her anxiety levels rising, as she closed the door behind herself and came back over to where Spencer was. She really had no idea how this was going to end up and that's what scared her the most, being in the unknown. All she really knew is that she had to hold it together and stand her ground whatever happened.

Joining Spencer back at the kitchen island, Spencer slowly took the disc out of the drive and closed the lid of the laptop down, just as Carly laid her phone down onto the surface in between the two of them.

Spencer gradually glanced up to look at Carly from her once gaze on the laptop "D-d-id you know about this?" Spencer asked her shakily as Carly swallowed away the large lump in her throat "W-w-here you there that n-n-ight?"

"No..." Carly answered quietly with a shake of her head "I only found out a few months later."

"Why didn't you go to the police?" Spencer was quick to question.

"It wasn't my place to," Carly began truthfully trying to ignore Spencer's watchful eyes on her, like Spencer was just waiting for her to lie or mess up, but Carly was way stronger than that and would never lie about this situation to Spencer because of how serious it happened to be "I was living in New York when she told me and I had to promise I had nothing to do with Rosewood any more. To be honest, I hardly know anything about what happened that night."

"Why don't you tell the police about this now since you're working on the force?"

"Because..." Carly lowered her head and let out a large sigh.

She had no idea how to answer that, because really she had no idea what to do about it all. She didn't want any of the girls to go down for a crime they didn't even commit but she also couldn't see Melissa go down either.

Carly had no idea how much longer she was going to be able to manage being on a case that she was so involved in herself.

"You don't know if you should." Spencer answered for her after a few moments of silence.

"Yes"

"I understand that."

"You do?" Carly asked the younger confused as she brought her head up with a frown.

"Yes," Spencer replied as she held the disc higher in her hands "because what the hell am I supposed to do with this?"

Carly's frown was replaced with a sorrow expression and knew she just had to be honest with her advice, rather than taking sides or forcing her to do something "That's up to you Spencer. It's in your hands now."

"You do know Tanner is pinning this on me and my friends, right?" Spencer said with a slightly frustrated tone in her voice.

"Yes, unfortunately I do." Carly confirmed.

She hated knowing that information.

"And this could clear us." Spencer motioned to the disc more.

"Yes. I know."

"But what do I do?" Spencer grumbled as she dropped the disc down onto the island and ran her fingers over her face in distress.

"I can't tell you what to do, Spencer," Carly sighed as Spencer took her fingers away from her face and glanced at Carly worriedly "But I can try to help. If you go to the police with that recording, then Tanner is going to straight away use it. She is going to send Melissa down while your Dad and I will get in serious trouble for being in the know. But if you don't and you hold onto it, you keep the real killer of Bethany Young from the cops, there is that chance that you and your friends might go down instead. But still, there is that other shot that you guys won't based on evidence, which Tanner has very little of. She knows she's running out of time on this case and is pinning it on the easy targets, which is you guys."

"O-ok," Spencer nodded in understanding of her points, even though she still had no clear idea what she was even going to do with the recording but she had something else on her mind also, something she had been meaning to ask Carly for a couple of weeks now "There's something else I need to know."

"What is it?" Carly pressed thinking it had something to do with Melissa.

"That day at Radley. You told me to tell Alison to stop sending you messages, right?" Spencer waited for Carly to nod for her to continue but all Carly could do was pull a puzzled expression at Spencer, not liking where this conversation was already headed "After speaking with Ali and she declined it was her sending the texts, I decided to talk to Melissa about the messages because I knew you two were friends. But that wasn't the only reason why I was so interested. Are you a hundred percent sure you've been receiving texts from Alison?"

"I don't know.." Carly shrugged as she felt her anxiety levels creep up again at the reminder of the texts she had received the past few weeks "I mean, I thought it was Alison, because of how they were signed from this -A person. I could only presume it was her since we've never been on the best of terms for many reasons. It made sense to me that it was her behind it. You don't sound so sure that you know who it is?"

"No..." Spencer began with a shake of her head trying to understand this more "I was sure it wasn't Alison. But, things have changed recently to make me doubt it. But why would A or Alison, or whoever send you anonymous messages?"

Carly folded her arms over her chest and chewed down on her bottom lip nervously "What has Melissa told you exactly?"

Melissa had promised her that she hadn't said a word but why did Carly always have these doubts her friend was telling the truth?

"About you?" Spencer asked as Carly nodded in anticipation "Nothing. I know nothing."

It was true. Spencer knew hardly anything about Carly or her past. All she knew about the girl was that her and Melissa became close the year Alison went missing. Also she knew that she had a close bond with Aria from babysitting her when she was younger. But she had no recollection of why the girl had so many secrets of her own and why she was so afraid of them coming out. It made no sense to her. It also made her wonder why -A would also go after Carly when she had been nothing but a good girl, hadn't she?

Carly breathed a sigh of relief, she really was hoping that Melissa wouldn't share her secrets just like that and at least Carly knew that the trust between the two friends were somewhat still there. Now she knew that she had at least someone from her past that was still just as loyal to her as she was to them.

"Why are your secrets so bad?" Spencer questioned after a few seconds of silence and wanting to know more "Most people in this town have done some pretty terrible things."

"When you're the girl good girl in this town, you'd be surprised what people would think of you when they suddenly know the real you." Carly told her with a timid smile which left Spencer more confused than she already had been.

Before Spencer could get the chance to push further and work out why -A would target Carly as well, the sound of Carly's cell phone vibrating on the kitchen island broke the eye contact the two shared with each other and their eyes trailed down to the device, where a new message had just popped up on the lock screen.

Carly's eyes widened a little when she saw the message appear on the screen from 'Jason DiLaurentis' and she already knew that there was no way she could hide this from Spencer. She knew how smart Spencer was and how great she was for solving things/ It was way too obvious now that Carly had some sort of connection to Jason and he might have been possibly part of her past.

Quickly taking her phone from the island, she slipped her phone inside her pocket and awkwardly faced Spencer again, with slightly flushed cheeks as Spencer questioned her once again with surprise "You know Jason?"

"Yeah I do," Carly tried her hardest to fight off the smile that was ready to form on her lips at the mention of him, she really had to leave now and be done with this conversation since it was already getting slightly to far into her past for her liking "I should probably get going now, I have to make dinner and get myself sorted."

"Of course, yeah," Spencer nodded understandingly as she tried to ignore the voice in her head telling her to dig deeper into her sister's friend's life "Thank you for coming round and helping me."

"It's absloutely fine," Carly assured her as the two girls made their way towards the back door Carly had entered "I hope you figure out what you're going to do."

"Yeah me too." Spencer slightly smiled as she pulled open the door and Carly stepped out.

Turning on her feet to face Spencer, she returned the smile and spoke up once more "If you need someone to talk to about anything at all, then you can talk to me, as a friend."

"Thanks. See you." Spencer bid her farewell, as Carly did the same and began her journey back to her car.

As Spencer watched Carly walk away from the house and head home, she couldn't help but push the Melissa situation to the back of her mind for one moment, as she thought more about Carly and what her past involved.

It had to be something pretty big for -A to just randomly target her like that. It was strange for this to happen to some random girl who just returned from New York only around a month ago. But maybe she did have some big secret that only -A and a few others knew. That's why -A was using it against Carly to get her out of town for good this time.

If Carly was right with what she said, that -A was Alison, then it made sense as to why she would target her. Carly had already confirmed to her a couple of times that she did not get on with Alison back then for reasons that was unknown to her before. But from what she had gathered tonight, she could only presume it had something to do with her her half brother, Jason.

Was Carly's big secret the fact that she has some sort of history with Jason that hardly anyone knew about?

* * *

 **Author note: I am finally back! Sorry I was a little while longer than intended! But I have been busy writing so I hope that it was worth the wait! Because I was such a while, I thought I would share you with a longer than usual part, so I really hope you enjoyed it.**

 **I've also changed the upload day to Wednesday's. So expect a upload every Wednesday!**

 **For those who are wondering when Jason will be back properly, I will give you a clue, he will officially return in Part 30! A little way to go yet but it will be worth it trust me on that!**

 **I really appreciate all the support, special thanks to RHatch89,LiLuLo12, ColdHeartAngel and karma3825 for the reviews on the last part!**

 **Feel free to drop me a comment letting me know what you thought about this past.**

 **Thanks so much for reading,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	26. The Beginning Message

**The Beginning Message**

"Monroe, front desk!" Carly felt herself sigh once again when she heard Tanner's secretary call her name, for what felt like the millionth time that day and she found herself marching out of her office and into the foyer of the station.

The station had been busier than usual that day, a lot busier than it had been in a few days and it was more than hectic for Carly was who trying to do her own work in her office, as well as help out on the front desk. She just wished she could just get to work in her own office in peace, instead of having to run from one room to the other, after every time she seemed to get stuck into her own tasks and then would end up losing her concentration when she had to start over.

Forcing a smile onto her lips, she entered the reception section and Tanner's assistant handed her a bunch of papers for her to sort out whilst she was busy taking a phone call. Unhelpfully, she rolled her eyes at the stack of papers and laid them down onto the desk, so that she could actually look through them properly without dropping them due to how heavy they were.

Reading the sticky note on the top of the papers, she pulled it off and began to get to work with what was being asked. She had to arrange the papers into envelopes according to whom they were addressed to. Most of them were for the new cops that had just finished their training and were graduating within the next few days, with one in particular making her smile, Toby, Spencer's boyfriend would be graduating that week and would be a regular cop at the station.

After ten minutes, she had finished with the papers and was now sticking down the last envelope, which was then going to be ready to take to the post and send off to those who needed them. It just so happened also that Tanner's assistant had finished her phone call and was then coming over to Carly with more work for her to do.

Carefully the older woman handed her more stacks of papers, some files and added the pile of envelopes onto the top of the pile for her go post. She was really hating this new position she found herself in and just wanted to get back to working in her office, on the case and the tasks Tanner actually wanted her to do. Instead of doing pity work and running errands for people.

"Sort those papers, file away the folders and post the envelopes, than that will be the last of the work I need you to do for me today," Tanner's assistant explained after she had noticed the less impressed look on the trainee detectives face, which Carly had been trying so hard to hide but obviously had failed miserably "I really appreciate your help today, Miss Monroe."

"It's no problem, " Carly assured her even if she did felt the total opposite about doing this work. "I'm going to take this in my office, then I have more space to work, if that's okay?"

"Nothing wrong with that as long as the work gets done."

Flashing the woman a small smile, Carly steadily made her way over to her office and out of the way of the crowded, noisy and busy foyer that she had been in and out of all day. She just needed to get these tasks done in her own peace and quiet, then focus on her own tasks and put her hard work into them without any more distractions. She was already hoping this temporary 'helper' position would end already even though she was only a few days in.

Once she arrived at her desk, she laid the pile down onto the work surface and made a start with the paperwork on the top of the pile. There were a number of reports that needed filing away from minor incidents to more major ones, as well as investigations and evidence notes that also needed to be put into the right folders.

She had getting so stuck in and busy with the work, after just wanting to get everything done and focusing on her own set tasks, she hadn't even realised that someone else had now stepped inside the room and was stood there staring at her with the most uncontrollable goofiest grin on their face.

The sound of them awkwardly coughing, stopped her hand going over to pick up another file and placing into folder, her head slowly was brought up from where she had been glancing down at the table in front of her and it wasn't until then that someone was also now in the room with her.

Gradually, she turned round on her feet and glanced over to the entrance of the office, where Detective Holbrook was now stood. Her eyes widened a little and a small smile graced her lips, shock and surprised to see him there, unannounced and unaware that he would even be into today, since Tanner had been sending him out on investigations the past week or so. It was a total surprise.

"Gabe," Carly broke the silence between them and made her way over to him "What are you doing here?"

"I do work here, Miss Monroe," Holbrook teased as he joined her in the centre of the room "Or have I really been out of the office that long, that you have somehow forgotten about me?"

"No of course not," She couldn't help but giggle back "I just had no idea you would be coming in today, since Tanner has been sending you out of the office the past few days, I was beginning to wonder whether she wanted us two around each other any more."

"Probably doesn't want your bad behaviour to rub off on me." Holbrook joked as Carly playfully slapped his arm and wrapped her arms around the front of his body for an embrace.

She had no idea what came over her, but she just felt like she had to hug him and show him appreciation. Partly because she felt like she owed him for so much. He had not told Tanner about the slight minor details of her past that he knew and he had basically saved her from getting fired from her position on the force last week. This had all been happening whilst he had a family emergency last week and Carly had kicked him out of her apartment the other night.

But she was happy that he was back in the office, even if she had no idea how long it would be for. It had gotten kind of lonely and she had missed his charming personality. It had always made her smile and she could easily joke with him, as well as help him out with the case and him offer his own help with certain tasks she was working on.

She hated how right he had been on her first shift, when he said that they were going to make a great team because it honestly did feel like that. She felt lucky that she had him to advise her and they had created a bond over her time here. Even if it had gotten awkward a few times and she had to 'friend zone' him on multiple occasions, she just hoped that the days of him flirting with her and trying to hit on her were long gone, but time would only tell on that one. She would just have to either live with it or ignore it.

Feeling her arms wrap around his lower abdomen, he gently wrapped his own around her back and pulled her into him, for a short yet sweet embrace. He was shocked that she was still acting this way with him after the night at her apartment. He was so sure he had ruined his chance with her. Holbrook hoped that he still did have a shot with her and he would do anything to make her his however long it would take.

"I actually surprisingly missed you." Carly told him as she pulled away from him and laid her hands down her sides with a grin.

He couldn't help but smile back at her, it was like her smile was infectious just like her laugh "I'm not surprised by that."

"Still full of yourself, I see." She smirked back.

"Always." He returned the gesture as he went over to the filing cabinet in the corner of the room, carefully bent down and opened it one of the bottom draws to retrieve a file.

Spinning round on her heel to face him, she folded her arms over her chest and titled her head to the side "What are you up to?"

"Investigating." He replied back smartly keeping his back to her.

"Wow state to the obvious," She rolled her eyes teasingly and took a few steps closer "But seriously. What's going on?"

"Haven't you checked your emails today? Has no one updated you?" He asked her still looking for a file.

"No I haven't even had the chance to get on my computer since I got in this morning. Tanner's assistant has had me basically in the foyer all morning." She explained to him with a slight frustrated groan.

"Oh yeah you're doing that now."

"Yeah and trust me when I say it is probably the worst job I have ever had." She complained as he still shifted through.

When he finally found the file he had been searching for, he stood back up straight and kicked the cabinet shut with his feet, before turning round to face her "It will be over with before you know it and you'll be back in this big office with me."

"Yeah until you go on investigation again." She replied back with a small pout as he came to stand in front of her.

"Well hopefully you can join me," Holbrook told her as she flashed a smile in his direction "Tanner said that you're not allowed on any investigations out of the station, right?"

"Right." She nodded in confirmation wondering where he was going with this.

"So that doesn't stop you from coming into questioning in a little while with me, does it?" He proposed with a sly look on his face and Carly couldn't help but bite her lip, excitedly about the fact she was going to be able to do actual detective work and also nervously at the way he kept looking at her.

Maybe he hadn't stopped on the hitting on her just yet. Although here was still that possibility he would stop.

"I guess not." She answered with a tilt to her head and the same smile playing on her lips.

"Great. That's settled then. You're joining me." Holbrook proposed as he brushed past her and headed over to the door to walk out of the office, leaving her alone and confused.

"Hey wait!" She called in a louder tone than usual as he thankfully stopped in his tracks and turned back to look at her "Where are you going?"

"To the questioning?" He said like he had already made it clear to her before "I just said you could come."

"I can't!" She informed him as he raised his eyebrows up confused "I mean, not now I can't. But say in another ten minutes, I'll be there. I just have to finish the rest of the work Tanner's assistant has left me. Then I'll be there."

"Ok, I'll text you the room number when I get down there," Holbrook suggested as she nodded back at him and had already turned to get back to the work she had left to do, unaware he was still standing there and looking at her "Miss Monroe."

Hearing his voice again, she turned her head to the side to look at him nervously and placed the finished files in her arms "Yeah?"

"I'll win you back." He told her casually without a change in expression or tone in his voice.

What was he going on about?

"Win me back?" She repeated with an amused and confused tone "You never had me, Detective Holbrook."

"I will this time."

She couldn't believe he was really still acting like this after what had happened recently. In some ways it scared her how convinced he was that he would end up romantically involved with her. But she had already made it clear to not only herself but him also, that she was just fine being friends and had already told herself her feeling's lie elsewhere.

"You're very sure of yourself." Carly laughed lightly as she adjusted her grip on the files in her hands. This had to be some sort of joke surely.

"I'm deadly serious, Miss Monroe."

And with that, Holbrook spun back around and walked out of the office into the foyer, leaving Carly with nothing left to do than stand there stunned and slightly freaked out about what the hell had just happened. They had gone from joking with one another, to her planning on joining him on a questioning and then to him telling her that he going to end up with her which by the sounds of it was something he wasn't going to give up on any time soon.

She hated letting the guy down when he had been nothing but nice to her, although they have had a few hiccups along the way, they were still a great team and she enjoyed building up a friendship with him. Maybe she had wondered what it would have been like to be in a relationship with him and maybe she should have not agreed to go on a couple of dates with him or even kiss him for that matter. Basically, she should have not lead him on but she wasn't aware that it would come down to this. Him basically making it very clear to her that she was what he wanted and he was going to stop until he got her.

That possibility of him stopping his attraction towards her definitely wasn't a possibility any more. It was definitely wasn't an option any more.

Around ten minutes later, Carly left the office she shared with Detective Holbrook and made her way to the questioning room that Holbrook had messaged her about. On the way, she couldn't help but feel slightly nervous yet excited to find out who they were going to be questioning next, as well as to be in Holbrook's presents again after what happened not long ago. She hoped that around other people he would be a little more discreet on making his attraction to her clear.

Wondering down the hall towards the room, she felt her heart begin to pound slightly in her chest in anticipation. She was beginning to already dread the worst about this situation and was beating herself up about having not regularly checked her emails that day. If she had, she would have known who Tanner and Holbrook were bringing in for questioning and all the theories as to why they were.

But for now, she had to keep out of the know and just wait to see who it was going to be. She prayed with every inch of fibre within her that this wasn't one of the girl's. She hoped it wasn't Spencer, Aria, Emily or Hanna. She hoped that Holbrook wasn't questioning one of them or all of them about the murder of Bethany Young. But it was most likely about the girl, since that was what Tanner was so focused on at the moment and had many theories of whom they think killed the girl. Most of them involving the girls.

Once she arrived outside of the room, she glanced through the glass in the middle of the door and could already see Holbrook stood inside the room in front of the glass, that was situated in-between the questioning section of the room.

It was like he felt someone watching him or her presents near by, his head turned swiftly towards the door and he noticed her stood there behind the door. With a happy smile to see her there, he beckoned inside with his hand and turned his head to look back through the glass again.

Carefully she pressed down on the handle of the door and came into the room, before she quietly closed the door behind herself. From where she was, she still couldn't see who was in the questioning room and who was being integrated. She expected to be Holbrook stood inside the other section questioning whoever it was on the other side. Yet he was just stood there watching and making his own judgements by the looks of it.

Gradually she came over to join him in front of the glass, her eyes trailed over to the window and her throat went tight slightly when she saw Alison DiLaurentis sat on a chair, a lie detector being strapped up to her and another man in the room with her, ready for her to begin her test.

"A-a-alison's here?" Carly stuttered out when the dirty blonde teenager on the other side glanced over at her and Carly hated how threatened she felt around Alison, because of the past and the awful texts she had been receiving recently.

She wasn't sure she even wanted to be in the room now watching the girl who was purposely trying to get her out of town and never return again. Carly felt tense and nervous to be even in the same room as her. She was so glad that there was a panel of glass separating them from each other because she was pretty sure that was stopping Alison from making some comment towards Carly about her past or Jason.

"Yes," Holbrook confirmed unaware of how his trainee detective was actually feeling about all of this "She's our first suspect in the Young murder. A lie detector will be able to help us rule out whether Alison had any involvement with the murder."

"I see." Carly nodded and took a shaky breath in looking through the glass, she really had to hold it together now and act tough, even if she was crumbling inside. She promised herself she wouldn't let Alison ruin her or this opportunity she had on the force.

But that wasn't the only thing that was making Carly feel nervous. It was the fact that they were still investigating more into who killed Bethany Young. She hated being in the know of this horrible secret Melissa had told her. But she couldn't go against her friend like that just to impress the team. She owed it to Melissa to keep her mouth shut because of all the times the older girl had been there for her.

It was terribly wrong of her to keep it from her team but she felt like she had to. She didn't have a choice in her eyes. But she also wasn't sure she liked the idea of the girls or even Alison going down for a crime they didn't even commit. However much she detested Alison and believed her being back in town was just a sign of trouble, she couldn't see a girl who didn't commit the crime go down. It wasn't right.

The sound of the door Carly had entered not long before reopened breaking her away from her worries, two other men she had recognised from around the station came inside and closed the door, before they came over to join the two Detectives on this side of the glass.

"Maybe we should wait for Tanner." One of the men said, standing behind Holbrook and Carly.

Upon hearing's his words, Carly couldn't help but let a frown form on her forehead and she lowered her head slightly to try hide her reaction to what this guy was saying. Had Holbrook came in here without Tanner's consent or even her order?

In response to the guys suggestion, Holbrook gave him a side ways glance before turning his head back round to face the window where Alison was and the lie detector test was then starting, completely ignoring what the man had suggested and going along with this plan.

"So we'll begin," The man who was carrying out the test said as everyone's heads were brought to watch Alison including Carly's who was staring long and hard at the teenager "Are you sitting down?"

"Yes." Alison answered coolly.

"What colour is your shirt?" The man asked.

"White with pink flowers."

"State your legal name."

"Alison Lauren DiLaurentis."

"Who also was in the barn that night?" The man continued on with his questions, getting more to the point of why they were actually here and not for some random questions.

"Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin and Emily Fields." Alison responded with a slight nervous breath which certainly wasn't going under noticed to Detective Holbrook who was watching her every move.

"When you left the barn they were all still sleeping?" Was the next question as Carly folded her arms nervously and chewed on her bottom lip.

"Yes."

"Where did you last see Spencer Hastings?"

But it didn't happen to be Alison who Detective Holbrook was staring intently at. Occasionally the Detective would glance over at Carly, watching her and seeing how she was reacting. Part of him couldn't help but believe Carly was around that year a lot more than she had implied or even said so. He believed she was somehow involved with the people in this case. He didn't want to believe it because he honestly did like her so much, but he had this gut feeling and he wanted to know more.

When he saw how uneasy she looked about seeing Alison on the other side of the window, seeing that she was the one who was having the interview and how shaky she had seemed to be acting since arriving in the office, he felt like his theories were coming much more to life. Even when he had just then notice her fold her arms and chew on her bottom lip, he wanted to reassure her that things would be ok and that he was looking out for her whatever it happened to be.

Because ever since he found out what happened with Carly and Aria back at the high school when she was on an investigation with Tanner, from Tanner herself after she had asked him to come help her reach her decision on what she should do about keeping Carly, his whole idea of her having this major past that related back to the whole case they were investigating was becoming more true.

If she happened to be close with Aria and had a past bond with her, then there had to be some connection of Carly to the case. He wanted to know more about her. He knew that she knew something and he couldn't wait to find out more. Maybe he could help her, maybe he could really show her how much he actually wanted her and he was serious about them being together.

Leaning over to her, he slowly wrapped his arm around her back and laid his hand down on her lower back. Feeling the sudden touch of a large and warm hand on her back, Carly flinched slightly and turned her head to the side to look at Holbrook. He flashed her a toothy grin and she awkwardly took a step away from him, even more freaked out than she had been earlier.

Why the hell was he randomly touching her and in the middle of a integration?

His hand slipped from off her back and she adjusted her feet on the floor, before turning to look back at the investigation and watch on like nothing had really happened between them. He really couldn't do that like that. It really was beginning to freak her out all of his odd and over-flirtatious behaviour.

"She came to my house." Alison answered referring to when she had last saw Spencer that night.

Carly's heart began to pound slightly, knowing exactly where this questioning was now headed, Holbrook hadn't just arranged for Alison to come in and be treated like a suspect, she was also being asked questions for them to gather more evidence to charge Spencer with the murder of Bethany Young. This couldn't be happening right now.

"You were the leader of the group?"

"Unofficially."

"And your friends would have done anything to help you?" The man asked as Alison's eyes rolled down and Carly felt her mouth go dry "If you needed them."

"I think so." Alison said unsure.

"Was Spencer a loyal friend?"

"As far as I knew."

"Why was she at your house?"

Alison's eyes rolled down again, her nerves getting the better of her and she took a shaky breath in "It was my fault. I pushed her to that place."

"What place?" The man pushed further.

"She was angry."

"Did you know Spencer was abusing amphetamines?"

"I found out that night." Alison answered as Carly glanced down and couldn't help but feel a huge level of guilt hit her immediately.

It wasn't just the fact that Spencer could go down for this, all this information Alison was giving to the the cops was building the theory of Spencer being the one to have killed Bethany and there Carly was holding on to the big secret of the real killer.

She seriously was beginning to doubt her position on this case and even on the force. Should she even had come back here? She never knew it was going to be this bad and that she would have been assigned to this case. It would have been a whole lot simpler if she had started working on much smaller cases rather than the one she was so involved in herself.

It was also the fact that the reminder of Spencer using drugs hit home for her hard. It was like another punch in the face of everything that went wrong for her and what she got into that year. It was stupid and she was young. But so were these girls and they didn't deserve this.

"Because she was under the influence?" The guy asked digging deeper.

"She dropped her pills. I saw what they were." Alison continued the story.

"Would you say she was desperate?"

"For what?"

Carly knew what was coming next and she really did have to hold it together now.

"For you to keep her secret?"

"She was emotional. But I promised her I wouldn't say anything."

"And in return for your silence, what was she willing to do?"

"I wouldn't know. We never discussed it again."

"Is there something else you'd like to tell me?" The guy asked waiting for her to confirm her being the killer either through lying or an actual confession. There was also the possibility of Alison saying her friend had the involvement with the death of the Radley patient.

Carly hoped that Alison would use whatever caring and loyal heart she actually had left in her body to not make Spencer any more involved with this.

"I didn't have anything to do with Bethany Young's murder." Alison stated in a serious and clearly non-lying tone.

She didn't even flinch or mess up which Carly could presume that was what the Detectives were hoping for. But she wasn't as she unfortunately knew the real story. And she hated knowing.

Before the man could continue with the investigation, a loud knock at the door and the sound of someone entering the room unannounced broke everyone's gaze off Alison to the the person now coming inside.

"Detective Holbrook," Tanner greeted in her usual non-cheery tone as Carly lowered her head awkwardly and in some ways afraid that she was going to be busted from being out of the office "I see you made a start without me and Miss Monroe has also joined you."

"Yes I invited her, I hope that's not a problem, Lieutenant Tanner." Holbrook replied back and flashed her a sarcastic smile back.

"Not a problem at all. But Carly I expect the work I left for you to be finished by the end of your shift." Tanner instructed her and Carly instantly knew that this was her time to leave.

And thank god she was getting the chance to. She couldn't sit through any more of that and pretend that everything was dandy because it seriously wasn't.

Flashing a shy smile at Holbrook and Tanner, she slipped past Tanner and made her way out of the integration room, back through the hall and towards her office where she had a pile of work to get on with before her shift finished in less than a couple of hours now.

She was just glad that Tanner had turned up when she had and that she didn't have to walk back to the office with Holbrook. Carly was sure if she had of stayed any more in that room then she would have gone into a full blown panic attack or would have run out of the room.

Or on the other hand, she would have to be in Holbrook's presence again, most likely alone and have him try on any more form of contact with her. She could handle the flirtatious comments and his charismatic charm. But personally touching and dominating words like earlier was enough for her to be seriously freaked out.

Once she had arrived back in the office, she slumped her body down in her chair and immediately got stuck into her work. Blocking out the voices and people outside in the foyer, as well as the unnerving worries she had circling around in her head. Just a few more hours to get through then she could go home, relax and forget that she had even witnessed that integration earlier that day, as well as Holbrook's bizarre behaviour.

* * *

It was nearing the end of Carly's shift, she had just finished typing up the last document that Tanner had requested her to do and was then placing some more files back in the cabinets. She was so thankful that her day was nearly over and she could just go home very shortly to be out of this hectic place.

Closing up the cabinet, she made her way over to her desk and then began to log off her laptop for the end of the day. Whilst she was waiting for it to shut down, she picked her bag up off the floor and placed it down onto her desk.

Looking around quickly, she noticed that everyone within the foyer was busy doing her own thing and that no one was thankfully watching her. Sneakily she brought her phone out from her bag and unlocked the device. Already there was a couple of messages on the lock screen from Jason and she couldn't help but break out into smile upon seeing them.

After arriving back home from Spencer's last night, she had cooked herself some dinner, took a quick shower and changed into comfy clothes, before she went on a video chat with him for a couple of hours. Again, it had been great and she had the best time. They were still also texting each other throughout the day and things between them seemed to great to even believe.

It was still a slightly strange concept for the both of them. They still hadn't even dabbled into how they both felt about each other, sometimes it was obviously pretty clear about it but they would never act on feelings. Nor would they ever discuss the bad parts of the past or what happened after that. It was still so raw to them both and it would take time.

But surprisingly she enjoyed coming home now as opposed to weeks back when she hated being alone in her apartment without any company. By having Jason to talk to in the evenings, it made it seem a lot more bearable and something she enjoyed coming home to.

Typing a reply back to him, she didn't wipe the smile off of her face and it didn't even disappear when she hit the send button, swiped her phone from silent to normal and waited for him to reply.

"Miss Monroe," She heard her name being called from the door way of her office and she turned her head round to be met with the face of Tanner's assistant "I need your help with something."

"Sure." Carly smiled at her as she slipped her phone onto the top of her bag and followed Tanner's assistant out into foyer.

The trainee detective wondered over to the front desk where Tanner's assistant wanted her to fill out a few forms that were going towards her qualification in the sector she was training in and also it was going to be great to track her progress.

Whilst the two were busy sorting that out, Detective Holbrook came round the corner from one of the other office rooms and entered his own office what he shared with Carly. When he noticed the trainee detective was not there but her belongings were, a puzzled expression formed on his face and he spun back round on his feet looking for her.

His eyes instantly locked onto her in the foyer of the station, watching her as she deep in conversation with Tanner's assistant and every time she laughed or smiled, he found himself also breaking out into a grin. He really had it bad for her and he was just itching her to feel the same way. Holbrook was convinced if other people hadn't been in the room with them earlier, she would have edged closer to him and enjoyed the feeling of him on her.

Turning back round, he wondered over to his side of the desk and began to tidy up his own desk for the end of his shift. He had been working since the early hours of the morning and was heading back home for a proper good kip, before he would be back in again tomorrow for another long tiring shift. But he was glad that they were making some quick progress with their suspects.

As he closed down the lid of his laptop and was about to slip it into his laptop bag, the sound of a cell phone ringing and vibrating filled the quiet office causing him to stop in his tracks. Following the noise, he glanced over to Carly's bag which was perched on top of the far end of the desk.

He could see the light from the phone lying on the top of her bag and it signalled to him that she had been the one to receive a message. Edging towards the bag, he sneakily turned his head around, looking back where Carly and Tanner's assistant were still busy, both of them and if not all of the people in the office had their heads glued to something, not even looking his way and seeing what he was up to.

Mischievously, Holbrook picked up his trainee's cell phone and flipped it over in his hand. The light that had been shining before was replaced with a black and blank screen, from where the phone was still in lock and the message would be showing up.

Holding down the button to light up the screen again, he found his stomach drop slightly when he saw just who Miss Monroe had received a message from. It took him several attempts of re-reading the message and the contact name again for him to process just whom was contacting the young woman he had become very fond of.

By the words, the tone and the meaning of the message, Holbrook knew that they way that Carly was communicating with this person was much more than just a friendly chat. There had to be some form of flirtation and intimacy between the pair.

But it just wasn't the idea of them communicating and being close that made him feel angry and upset, it was the fact that the person Carly was texting was someone who was highly involved in the case, which only confirmed his suspicions of her being more involved than they thought. She had some sort of past or maybe an even present with this guy she was texting.

Carly was in contact with Jason DiLaurentis and Holbrook was so sure he was going to put a stop to it.

* * *

 **Author note: I am back! Updates are going to be every other Wednesday since the feedback on this story has been dropping!**

 **Even if you do read, I hope you liked it anyway and you're not getting bored. JASON WILL BE COMING BACK IN PART 30!**

 **That update could be quicker depending on the feedback I get. I hate to nag but it really helps me to write more and see if people are actually interested or not because if not, what is the point?:-(**

 **Special thanks to RHatch89 who always takes the time out to review! You're a star! Thank you to everyone also who takes the time to give feedback, take an interest or even read! It means so much so thanks so much.**

 **I will speak to you in the next part,**

 **thanks so much,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**

 **P.S if any of you like Teen Wolf, I have uploaded a new story/second installement to my Temptations story over on my profile, if any Teen Wolf fans would love to check it out and have a read. Thank you if you do :-)**


	27. Slowly Unravel

**Just The Start:**

Just like the previous nights when Carly had returned home from work, she had gotten home, put some food into the oven, went for a quick shower, changed into a pair of comfy clothes or her pyjamas, tidied up some of the house, ate her dinner and then sat down either on her bed or the couch with her laptop in front of her, having a video chat with Jason. It was somehow becoming part of her nightly routine and she had been enjoying every minute of it.

That night was no different. She had just finished her last mouthful of pasta out of her bowl, when the sound of her laptop ringing alerted her attention and a warm smile broke out onto her face. She knew exactly who it was and she knew that Jason had been waiting for her, probably beginning to get impatient with how long she was taking and wanted to see her already.

Playfully rolling her eyes at his impatient attitude, she placed her bowl gently down onto the glass coffee table in front of her and pulled her laptop up onto her lap instead. Quickly she pressed the accept button on her screen, not wanting to let him wait a moment longer and she also just wanted to see and talk to him already.

"Hey Jason." Carly greeted once the screen had loaded and the DiLaurentis guy appeared on it, her stomach instantly fluttering when she saw him and her chest went tight slightly as he shone a grin in her direction.

She hated how easily it was for him to make her feel uneasy and weak. It wasn't a bad uneasy like Holbrook made her feel. It was the kind of feeling you get when you cannot contain your excitement and that you just literally crave to be with that particular person. It might have been strange for Carly to have been feeling like that so early on into whatever they had going on.

But in reality, it didn't feel like this was something that had only just started. It felt like they were just continuing on from what they had before. Even though it was in some ways not even in the same. They weren't actually seeing each other face to face, they weren't hanging out in each other's bedrooms, drinking alcohol, Jason getting stoned at parties, going on late night drives out of town, being side by side literally wherever they went and they most certainly weren't discussing the past or how they felt about each other.

It was different. But it was a good different. It was more of a mature and steady pace situation they had going on compared to the reckless one they were last familiar with. Carly was pretty happy to be able to talk to Jason like normal, like they were friends, maybe even lovers half the time, but it felt good to be able to even speak to him let alone see him on her computer screen.

Part of her wished that he was in town. She wished that maybe he could pop over to see her at least once a week or maybe they could meet up for coffee out of town. It was risky and secretive. But it was better than what they had been used to the past three years. They had been use to the whole no texting, no calling, no communicating or even seeing each other thing.

Carly knew nothing about what Jason got up to the past three years. All what she knew was what she had read in the case file at the station on her first few shifts. Also Carly had been in touch with Melissa the first few months and even then her friend hadn't told her much about the DiLaurentis. It was like Melissa was not supposed to. Like she was made to keep quiet about him and after that it was just like Melissa wasn't allowed to speak to Carly again either.

The sound of Jasons' voice broke her away from her thoughts and back into reality "Hi Carly. I was beginning to think you had stood me up again." Jason joked with a playful tone in his voice and Carly couldn't help but raise her eyebrows up at this.

"I didn't stand you up," She defended herself with an ever growing smirk on her face "I was busy yesterday and right now I have just finished eating my dinner."

"I know I'm sorry," Jason smiled at her on the screen " I can't help but want to see you."

"I know but I'm here now, so it's all good." Carly grinned back as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Talking about the other night, where were you anyway?" Jason asked interestedly.

"I was at the Hasting's, why?" She told him with a slight worried tone at why all of a sudden he happened to be interested in her where about's, was he suspicious of her or something? "You didn't ask me about this last night?"

"I didn't feel it was right to," He replied with a sheepish smile "I didn't know if it had to do with something about the case."

Hearing his words, it was like another reminder to her of why getting closer to Jason was so risky for her job. Although she was slightly glad that it was coming across like he understood it by the way he didn't want to ask if it did have something to do with her work.

In reality, it didn't have anything to do with her place on the team. But it did have to do with what she was working on. The murder of Bethany Young and how Tanner and Holbrook seemed to be pinning it on innocent teenagers. But she would never tell Jason that. She wouldn't break confidentiality just that easy and she certainly wouldn't let Jason be apart of the Melissa situation either.

"Nope," Carly rubbed her lips together nervously "I was helping Spencer with something."

"Oh you two are close?" He questioned more surprised that his half sister and the girl he used to be so close to where on speaking terms.

He had no idea that Spencer knew that Carly that well, at least well enough to go to her for help even in Carly's new career position. Maybe he had been away from Rosewood for far too long already and was so unaware of whom Carly was actually close to this time round. He hated how jealous and worried he felt about not knowing who she was speaking to whilst he was miles away out of town.

Should he have been worried?

"Not really close," She informed him whilst shaking her head and ignored the worried expression that had formed on his face, she had no idea why he was getting worked up about this "Just helping her with something to do with Melissa. It's complicated."

"I see," Jason rubbed his lips together, trying to push out his negative thoughts, he trusted Carly and she wasn't even his, so why was he acting so jealous and protective over her "Nothing I should be worried about?"

"What? No!" Carly was quick to defend because she couldn't believe in just a short amount of time how up tight Jason was being in this situation, he really did have nothing to worry about "I was helping her out with Melissa. She's gone back to London so I was just trying to offer Spencer some closure about something. As I said it's complicated."

"Like everything with that family." Jason grumbled as he rolled his eyes down to the ground.

"Pretty much. But it's sorted for now," She confirmed with a light smile, wanting to get off this topic as soon as possible and him back to his old-self. She really didn't understand why Spencer and her communicating was such a big deal to him "So tell me more about your day, what have you been doing?"

"Working," He began with a slight sigh like he was tired or clearly just still frustrated "Sorting out new apartments and houses to go onto the market. What about you?"

"Just at work. Been so busy helping out Tanner's assistant. I feel exhausted now." Carly complained with a light smile.

"Well you don't look exhausted." Jason smirked at her and it was just like that, his mood changed instantly and all of the concern before was vanished. He really had to stop getting ahead of himself. Carly wasn't even his and he trusted her anyway.

"I might not look it, but I certainly feel it and being in my pyjama's is not helping." She laughed lightly as she pointed down to the pink and white pin-stripe silk long sleeve pyjama top and matching shorts.

"I never saw those when I was over." Jason said playfully as his eyes traced over the clothing she was wearing and he couldn't stop the ever growing grin forming.

Carly bit down on her bottom lip upon her his words, trying to hold back a chuckle, as well as her very own smirk, Jason certainty knew how to please her but two could play that game"Because you saw a lot more of me."

"Hey!" Jason exclaimed with a laugh, loving every moment of what was going on with this girl, it really did begin to feel like old times, just a lot more suggestive than before "That's naughty."

"What? I was just stating the facts." She shrugged her shoulders innocently tracing her teeth over her lip.

What the hell had gotten into her? She never acted this around guys usually, but with Jason he always seemed to bring out her playful and daring side.

"Let's not be reminded of that night." Jason joked with her trying his best to sound as serious as possible and stop his smile from getting bigger.

"What? Rude!" Carly pretend to act shocked the best she could as she also tried to hide her laughter "You loved it."

"Yeah until you kicked me out of your apartment the next morning." He grumbled as she rolled her eyes jokingly.

A memory that stuck out in his very much and one that he thought would be the last time he ever spoke to her let alone saw her again. But here they were video chatting almost every night, texting through out the day and getting to know each other again.

"Yeah because I was scared, ok?" She pouted half seriously and half jokingly.

It was true. She was scared. She didn't want to disappoint her Dad or Brooke. She didn't want to risk job and she also didn't want to go back to her old self. Also she had been disgusted at her actions, but now she realised that what happened actually changed things for the better.

"Of what? Me?" Jason asked confused with raised brows.

"No. Of Us." She admitted timidly as he blinked back in surprise.

"Is there an us?" He asked seriously, the joking and fun that had been gone on between them moments before was replaced with this deep conversation that the two felt incredibly nervous and apprehensive about.

Were they going into deep way too soon?

"I don't know, is there?"

"I don't know. I asked you."

"Jason..." Carly sighed as she lowered her head and began to play with the end of her sleeve anxiously, she had already told him the other day just how much that she didn't want whatever they had going on with each other to end, but even now she felt she had to open up to him, tell him how she really honestly felt about that morning and what happened that night "You know I wish I never threw you out that day?"

"Oh yeah?" Jason perked up at this. He could feel his own heart racing in his chest about what she was going to tell him.

He had been so adamant that she regretted what happened between them. It lead him to feeling annoyed at himself for stepping back into her life after three whole years of part. He was so sure she had moved on and wasn't coming back. But she had come back and he knew he had one last shot of a proper goodbye.

Then when he had got it, he felt like it was all over again, that he had lost her just like last time, he had really thought he had pushed it too far. But he always had this hope that there would be a chance to become something that they never were before. That was the whole reason he gave her his number, so that she could use it whenever she needed him and he was somewhat grateful that she did in her time of need.

"Yeah," She confirmed dryly as she cleared her throat and glanced back up at him "I should have just let you stay until you were ready to go or at least said goodbye in a civilised manner. I regret it."

Jason couldn't help but be the one to lower his head this time, a tight feeling growing across his chest at the realisation that maybe after all this time, there still could be something between them "Well if that's an apology then you're forgiven."

"Hey!" Carly grinned at him, once he looked back at her with the same glowing look on his face, before she began to explain more "I did enjoy the company though that night. I actually even enjoy your company now. I hate coming home to a lonely apartment it sucks. I don't know how you can stay in hotel rooms by yourself."

"It does get lonely, but I prefer it than being in my own house back in Rosewood. It's like living in a haunted house." Jason told her with a slight smile which Carly could presume was half sad and half happy to hear her thoughts about him.

"I get that. Do you ever think you will come back?" She asked him with a glimmer of hope he would say yes.

She just wanted to see him so badly, however crazy the idea it was and risky for her position on the force, she just wanted to be able to be in his presents and not have to talk to him through a screen any more.

"I don't know. Maybe?" He shrugged.

"Well when you do and if you ever do, promise you'll visit me?" Carly proposed as she titled her head to the side and shone Jason the biggest grin she could.

"Of course. I promise," He said genuinely followed by a chuckle at how adorable she was being "Only if you promise that you won't chuck me out this time?"

"Deal." She laughed but a few moments later a light sigh escaped her lips. She just wanted this moment to last forever.

Why couldn't it last forever? Because she certainly wanted it to.

"Jay, I wish you never left."

And he wished he never left her.

* * *

Whilst things seemed to be going smoothly for Carly and Jason, back at work, Carly seemed more distant from the team she was working with and the case. The emails that Holbrook had mentioned to Carly about yesterday, that Carly had presumed she hadn't received yet because she had been so busy helping Tanner's assistant, never even reached her mail box and her list of duties for the past couple of days had hardly any or no relation to Alison's case or Bethany Young's murder.

Carly's first thought was because of how busy Tanner, Holbrook and the rest of the team had been working on the case. She presumed that they hadn't gotten round to updating her yet and would eventually update her when they had the time to. However due to the demon that anxiety was, Carly had her doubts that it was the real reason why she had a lack of knowledge concerning the latest events in the case.

There was the other theory that Tanner had instructed Holbrook and the team to keep her out of the latest on goings as much as possible, due to what happened last week and how they had their suspicions of just how close Carly happened to be to some people on the case.

She could understand why Tanner would do that. It was clear the Lieutenant was unsure about the trainee now and was trying to keep her out of the picture as much as possible. But Carly couldn't help but feel that this was completely unfair.

In her eyes, she hadn't exactly done anything wrong, all she had been doing was speaking to Aria and Ella about things that didn't even concern the case and even when they did it was about Carly trying to find the balance, from protecting those she cared about and doing her job. She hadn't gone against Tanner or the team in anyway. Even when she saw communicating with Jason, Spencer and Melissa, she had never shared any information about the case to any of them and even if they ever tried to get information from her, she would never give that to them. She had done nothing seriously wrong. All she had been doing was staying loyal to everybody.

Surely that was supposed to count for something and proved she was serious about this?

Carly had seemed to spent her morning filing away paperwork, photocopying important documentation, preparing reports and presentations for people who needed them, answering calls at the front desk and researching information for Tanner to build more about her case. It was still pity work, that was probably put in place for her punishment from last week and she hoped that her real training would start very soon.

She was already missing going out on investigations, joining in on questionings, making her own judgements and theories on what she had witnessed and researched, building reports and other documents to support what she predicted to be the cause of the crime.

It was understandable she had to work her way from the bottom to the top. Carly was one of the lucky few who was able to bag a position like this so early on out of college and into the real world. It didn't happen to everybody and it was rare. Most people her age, would leave college and train to start off as a cop first.

However Carly's dream was never to be a cop, she had never set out to just be an officer and wear the uniform around town. Hell no, she had big plans for herself. Studying hard at high school, acing her way through college quickly and having your Mom being an ex-detective on Rosewoods team, meant that Carly was lucky enough to jump straight into the whole trainee ship.

She wanted to become a general detective at Rosewood Police Station. Over the past few years, the station had really let the town down in so many ways, especially with the whole Alison DiLaurentis case. Carly wanted to change that. She wanted to get it back to what it was before and when her Mom had still been working there. It was a massive goal and dream of hers, but something she wasn't willing to give up any time soon or if something came in her way.

The sound of foot steps entering the office, broke her eyes away from her laptop screen where she had been previously looking at her emails and onto Detective Holbrook who had now entered the office for the first time today.

She tried to flash him a small smile, part of her slightly annoyed at how she was being treated here and how she wished she could be doing something more productive to really show how much she wanted this, but also there was still that uncertainty she felt around Gabe about the way he had acted yesterday around her, it had definitely freaked her out more than normal.

However she found herself frowning in confusion when she got not recognition back from him. It was like she was invisible and only added more to how she was feeling about working here doing the tasks she had been doing the past few shifts.

It was so unlike him to not greet her, shine a beaming grin at her or throw some charming phrase at her. It was like that time before after their first date, things had been awkward between them and he had made it even worse by ignoring her and acting strange. Maybe this was the same thing all over again.

Was he mad at her because she had stepped away from him yesterday in the questioning room? Did he get offended that she didn't want to be close with him like that?

Getting up off her desk chair and onto her feet, she turned on her heel and took a few steps over to him whilst smoothing down her black high neck skater dress, watching him as he was busy flicking through a case file in the corner of the room, still acting like she wasn't even there and he didn't have a care in the world that she also worked there.

"Uh, Gabe? Hi?" Carly spoke up quietly trying to gain his attention, as she crossed her arms and chewed her lip nervously "You totally just blew me off when you came in here, what's going on?"

"Sorry Miss Monroe. My mind was elsewhere." Holbrook apologised as he closed up the file and turned round to face her properly.

When his face met hers, she raised her eyebrows up at him, once she saw the slightly annoyed expression on his face, she could only presume it was from working long hours and using his brain power to solve this case, but maybe he could use an extra pair of hands from someone who wasn't hardly doing anything with her time.

"Do you need any help with anything? I don't mind helping you out. I'm pretty much finished all my jobs for today and it's not even my lunch break yet. I'd be happy to assist you with anything." She suggested to him with a helpful tone in her voice.

"I've got everything covered, thank you, Miss Monroe." He told her, as he brushed past her and over to his end of the desk.

Letting a small sigh escape her lips at how this wasn't working out for her in the slightest, she spun back round and slowly followed him over to the desk area of their office "Are you sure?"

"Yes." He told her bluntly.

Feeling defeated and somewhat annoyed with the way he was acting towards her, she came to stand beside him, from where he was leaning over the desk and filling out some form, a form she clearly had no idea about because she was out of the loop of everything, another cause of her horrible bad mood that he was clearly making worse.

It was pretty true when they say bad moods rub off onto other people. Holbrook's mood was making Carly feel even worse about herself and her time spent at the station. But she wasn't going to stand for it any longer, she had to know the reason why everyone seemed to be keeping things from her and why Holbrook was acting like such an ass that morning.

"Has Tanner told you to keep things from me and not let me help you?" Carly questioned him first, as he stopped his pen mid-sentence upon hearing her words, "Because she agreed with you that I was going to be like your partner in this case. I'm supposed to help you out whenever you need be and you're supposed to be like a mentor to me. Therefore, I offer you my assistance with anything you need. But you just declined. So how am I supposed to do my job properly?"

"Tanner hasn't told me anything." Holbrook answered, as he stood up from his previous position and stood in front of her, only a few inches between them now and he could clearly see how distressed Carly looked.

"Then why don't you want my help?" She asked in a disappointed tone.

"You know that bad book I told you about?" He began as she nodded her head and frowned more than she already was, wondering where the guy was going with this, "Maybe I don't need your help because you happen to be in it."

Confused at what he was saying, she shook her head and answered back "What? You said the book was a joke. It's not real?"

"I know and it isn't Miss Monroe. But my point is, you got in trouble with Tanner and as your team mate, I can't risk getting you into more trouble." Holbrook explained to her as she felt herself grow even more puzzled by all of this.

He didn't want her help because he didn't want her to get into any more trouble. But how would helping him get her into more trouble? It made no sense to her. Surely it would make her get out of trouble and make her be seen in a better light than she already had been last week.

Without even getting the trainee a chance to respond to him, he picked up the papers into his hands and slipped them inside a folder, before he made his way towards the door, like he was ready to leave the station and wasn't planning on giving her any more of an explanation of why he was acting so strange around her.

"Hey!" She called him back following him towards the exit of their office "Where are you going?"

Spinning back round on his heel, he couldn't help but let a smirk form on his face, she really was desperate for his attention today and it made him more angry at what he knew, because she hid it so very well and he felt like it was a massive kick in the face that she was acting like this when she was around him.

"To see Alison DiLaurentis." He told her leaning on the door frame of the office.

"Why are you going to see her?" She asked him trying to figure out if this had something to do with the development of the case that she had no idea about "Didn't you get enough answers yesterday?"

"I did but I need to update her on the situation."

"So Alison knows more information than me?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Either someone doesn't want me to know something or my emails broken. I'm so out of the loop in the investigation. I have no idea what's going on."

"That has nothing to do with me, but I can try to talk to Tanner about that. But we need just run a few more questions by Alison and inform her of what she needs to know. If you're here later on, I'll give you my latest reports to read to get you up to date, how does that sound?"

"Sound's great." Carly shone him a tight smile still unsure whether he was being completely honest with her, but if this was her only way to stay current then she was going to accept the offer.

"If you want the long story short, we've pretty much reached a decision on who we're arresting for Bethany Young's murder." Holbrook informed her.

"You have?" She asked with raised brows just as he nodded back at her "I take it that it's not Alison?"

"Nope. We reached a judgement that the girl had nothing to do with Bethany's murder. But it doesn't rule out the other girls," He began with a mischievous smirk as he watched Carly work out what he meant, he knew she would know because he had belief that she really did have potential to be something great in this station, however much it would ruin his chances of being the success "I think we both know who I'm referring to."

He was right. Carly knew exactly who the 'other girls' were and understood that there was one in particular that Holbrook and Tanner were throwing there arrest at, after what happened in the lie detector test with Alison yesterday. The girl should have basically screamed out that Spencer was such a bad person to have killed some random girl she didn't even know.

"You're going to charge, Spencer?" Carly guessed, trying to hide the awfulness she felt about all of this, she didn't know if she could watch Spencer go down for this crime.

"It's already arranged. Within the next twenty four to forty eight hours, Spencer Hasting's will be arrested for Bethany Young's murder." He told her and Carly could already feel a lump forming in her throat.

"Y-you really think Spencer killed her?" Carly asked trying to see if there was some way around this ridiculous plan without making it seem to obvious where her loyalty laid this time round. The balance so wasn't there this time.

"The evidence is there. Plus Alison basically lead us into the right direction with the whole drug abuse thing Spencer had going on at the time." Holbrook explained.

"Yeah," She lowered her head slightly "Drug abuse can make you do reckless things. But I don't see how a teenage girl who was abusing drugs would cause so much harm to a total stranger. She must have had some control."

"But she wanted Alison to keep her secret. Her big secret. She would have done anything for no one to find out about her drug abuse. You would know a lot about that, wouldn't you, Miss Monroe?"

Carly felt her eyes widen in horror, she was so thankful that right now her head was in an angle that Holbrook wouldn't be able to see her whole facial reaction to his words, as well as hear the pounding of her heart in her chest and the way her stomach just dropped.

What was he referring to? Did he know about Melissa and the secret she was keeping for her? Did he know more about her past and what went on back then? Did he know more than he was letting on about her? Had he already worked out things about her?

Was that why he had been acting so strange?

"W-w-hat?" Carly choked out as she finally took a fully look at him, trying to pull it together and not appear guilty or weak.

Because she wasn't. She was stronger than this.

"Oh it's nothing. Just Tanner told me you're close to Aria. Must be hard having to keep all of this a secret from people you care about, huh?" He raised his eyebrows up in casual manner unlike her spooked one.

"U-uh yeah. Y-you're right." She flashed him a fake smile as he turned around fully this time and wondered out of their office, making his way towards the exit and off to the DiLaurentis house.

Once he was out of sight, unfortunately not out of mind, Carly quickly closed the office door up and turned the blind fully, so that no one could see in and she couldn't see out. Carefully she repeated the same steps with the window in the office, before she jogged over to her bag and pulled it up onto her office desk in a hurry.

Scrambling through the contents of her bag, she shifted through it until she reached her cell phone and brought it out into her hands. Within no time, she had unlocked the device and was already making a call to somebody to warn them. Her mind going frantic about what was going on and it definitely wasn't helping the increasing anxiety she had to live with each day.

When the line rang out on the other end of the phone line and the voice mail appeared, a frustrated groan escaped Carly's lip and once the phone beeped, she left a message for the person who needed it the most "Spencer. It's Carly. Listen to me. You have to call me back as soon as you get this. It's urgent."

It was urgent. It was so very urgent. Carly had no idea how she was going to be able to explain to Melissa just how she let Spencer go down to the murder that actually Melissa had committed herself. Carly felt disgusted that she was all a part of this and just because she knew about all of this she could go down herself.

She hoped that if there was a god up there, then someone would look out for her, look out for them and seriously try their hardest to stop Spencer from being arrested. It would crush Melissa to know after everything she didn't even protect her little sister, whilst Carly just sat there and watched it all unravel.

* * *

 **Author note:** **First off, I hope you enjoyed and you're enjoying the story so far.**

 **Second, I just want to clear a few things up from the last author note. It may have come across as me only writing the chapters for reviews etc, but that's not what I meant. What I meant is that it just really helps to see comments and feedback on parts, because then it gives me a clear idea if people are liking where it is headed or not and if people want to see something particular happen in the story. Also it helps me to continue writing on, it's like a boost in motivation and gives me inspiration to continue on. I hope that's cleared a few things up. Because I wasn't keeping parts from you guys just because I wasn't getting reviews. It's because I just felt really de-motivated by it and I suffer with low self-esteem, so for me it was just like no one was enjoying it and was bored of the story. But I am very happy that people still are enjoying it. It's a lovely thing to read.**

 **Anyway, thanks so much for reading and taking an interest. Special thanks to AngelHope18, LiLuLo12, MrsJasonDiLaurentis, Rhatch89 and the guest reviewer for either reviewing, favouriting or following since the last part. I am glad you're enjoying it.**

 **I'd love to hear from you!**

 **Thanks so much,**

 **MERRY CHRISTMAS!**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	28. Accidental Punch

**Accidental Punch:**

After grabbing her order from the barrister at the counter of the Brew, she wondered over to the back couch and took a seat down on it. Carefully, she laid her latte and usual grilled cheese sandwich down onto the coffee table in front of her, before she slid her bag off her arm and placed it down beside her on the couch.

A light sigh escaped her lips as she found herself checking her phone again. Still there was no messages. Not from anyone. Not from Jason. She hadn't heard from him since she started her shift earlier on that morning. She presumed he was working and it was understandable that if he was busy he wouldn't be able to get to his phone. But she just wanted to be able to talk to him to just calm the nerves she felt in her stomach about what she had found out earlier.

He relaxed her and made he feel safe, even if it was only through her cell phone screen on a call or text, or on her laptop screen talking on video chat. When she was talking to him, all of her troubles and problems just subsided for the time, she was able to focus on the moment instead of worrying about the future.

And then there was Spencer. She still hadn't heard back from the teenager. She had left her another two voice mails and a few texts but there was still nothing from her. Carly began to dread that the worst had already happened but she doubted it since Holbrook had been given such a wide time gap. Maybe there was still a chance she wouldn't be arrested after all?

Trying to push her nerves to the side, she began to tuck into her lunch and people watched like she normally did. When she had finished the last mouthful of her sandwich, she grabbed her phone again and was disappointed to see no messages, calls or voice mails from no-one.

Where the hell was Spencer?

Clicking on her call list, she clicked on Spencer again and dialled her number, just hoping that this time she would pick up and Carly could warn her about what was going to happen. It was totally contradicting everything she had promised herself not to do but she had to look out for Melissa and looking out for Melissa also meant protecting Spencer for her. It was crazy but when it is about the people you care about, sometimes you would do anything to help or even save them.

When the dialling finished, there was a short silence on the other end, a spark of relief washed over her when she realised that Spencer might have actually picked up her calls this time. However, her luck was cut short when the sound of the phone company playing the automatic voice mail message filled her ear drum and another frustrated sigh escaped her all over again.

Groaning quietly to herself, she tossed her phone down on the couch beside her and ran her fingers over her face in annoyance. She couldn't believe how stressful all of this was and she was only a recently new trainee. What was she going to be like in a high authority?

But her doubts about her career were all because she was assigned to the Alison DiLaurentis case. She believed if she had been involved with another case, then she wouldn't have had this problem. She wouldn't be stuck in the middle of everything and figuring out whether she was more willing to break the rules of the station or break the trust of the ones she cared about?

It was a constant battle and a dilemma for her. Every day was getting harder. But also everyday was also a learning curve. It was also teaching her a lot about the new town that she had left for three years, the people she had once known and trying to get to know the new them, as well as learning just how the police department worked, the successes they made and improvements they needed to make.

A famaliar beeping and vibrating pulled her out of her thoughts, releasing that it was in fact her cell phone now ringing and her opportunity to speak to Spencer was actually now happening.

Quickly picking it up without even bothering to look at the caller ID, she greeted the person on the other end of the line "Hello?"

"Hey Carls!" She heard her Dad greet back in a cheery tone.

"Dad?" Carly asked in surprise that it was him to have been the one to call her.

It wasn't that she was disappointed. She loved her Dad and catching up with him. She wished she could have spent more time with him but with his crazy schedule, it was hard to do that. But she had been so optimistic it was Spencer calling her.

"Hey kiddo," John replied back totally unaware of her confusion "How have you been?"

"I've been good," She told him with a small smile "What about you?"

"I've been ok too," He answered "I haven't heard from you since the other morning. How was the report? Did Tanner like it?"

"I'm yet to receive any feedback. Everything is kind of crazy down at the station." She informed him as he sighed.

"Ah that's not good! I bet you've been working hard then." He chuckled unaware what Carly had really been doing.

"Oh yeah." She joined in the laughter even though it was a lot more forced than planned.

She hadn't told her Dad about her knock back and the trouble she had got in last week. Carly knew if she did, he wouldn't exactly be pleased with her in the slightest and would force her to lock herself away from the world. It was something she didn't plan on bringing up any time soon and hoped it was going to stay that way. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"So I was thinking, what are you doing tomorrow night?" John moved on from the work conversation quickly and onto the real reason he had called his daughter.

"Tomorrow night?" Carly asked confused.

Why was her Dad asking her what she was doing on a week day night?

"Yeah? It's Thanksgiving."

"Oh Thanksgiving! It totally slipped my mind," She laughed "Nothing! I am doing nothing."

"Well I would like to invite you round for dinner at my place." John informed her.

"Won't you be working?" She asked confused.

Her Dad always worked nights. He was a doctor in the ER department. He hardly ever had evenings free.

"Not this year," He told her and she could just picture the smug look on his face "I managed to wing my boss and get the time off. Told him my daughter was back for the first time in years and I wanted to spend the time with her."

"That's great! Of course I'll be there. I'm not working tomorrow, so I can come round whenever." Carly grinned even though he couldn't see her, but she was pretty pleased right then.

She was finally getting the chance to spend some proper time with him.

"I'll call you in the morning or text you sometime tomorrow. Sorry to cut the conversation short. But I need to get ready for my shift. I'm starting earlier today and not working as late so I can be more awake for you tomorrow."

"Ok, Dad. I can't wait to see you."

"I can't wait to see you either, Carls," He told her in a warm tone "Have a good rest of the day. I love you."

"Love you too, Dad."

* * *

Meanwhile, while the trainee detective was busy eating her lunch, drinking her latte and making plans with her Dad. Detective Holbrook was on his way to the DiLaurentis house. Within fifteen minutes, the detective pulled up outside the property and jumped out of his car.

He glanced up at the house, as he closed his car door and began to make his way up to the front porch of the house. Once he reached the front door, he knocked lightly on the wood and took a step back from it, hoping that Alison would be inside.

Within a few seconds, the door opened up to reveal Alison behind it, a confused and surprised look on her face to see him stood there, after what happened yesterday she hoped it would have been the last she saw of the detective for a while.

"Alison, may I come in?" Detective Holbrook asked with a hopeful tone in his voice. He really had to speak to the girl, not only about the case, but something important also.

"Does my Dad need to be here for you to talk to me?" Alison questioned unsure about all of this.

"No. It's no integration. I've just come with some news." He told her leaving out the other part of his reasoning's.

"Ok. I guess you can come in then." She answered as she stepped away from the door and allowed him entrance inside.

Once they were inside, Alison walked behind him, his body and eyes stopping to look at the piano what sat in the front room.

"Do you play?" He asked her referring to the musical object in the room.

"Sorry?" Alison asked him confused at what he meant and came to stand in front of him.

"The Piano." He told her nodding over to it.

"Oh," She paused before continuing to answer his question "Um I loved it as a kid, but I lost interest. I can't remember why."

"I see. Look I shouldn't be here without Lieutenant Tanner, but I just wanted to tell you this in person. But before I get on to that, there was something else I came here for." Holbrook explained to her with a sly look on his face.

"What is it?" Alison asked confused as to what he wanted.

"Tanner has this theory that you and Carly Monroe know each other. So I want to know, if you do know anything about her?" He questioned her before he waited to watch her reaction and see if his and Tanner's theories were true.

"She used to have a thing with my brother." Alison answered honestly, as she crossed her arms over her chest, a malicious smile grew on her lips at the reminder of the girl who had just recently got back from town pretending to be the good girl all over again.

In Alison's eyes it was really a sight to see. Carly had every fooled that she was some good girl who always behaved. But Alison knew the real her. She saw her as the girl who ruined her brother's relationship with one of her best friends. Then had to witness him drink and smoke his life away the night she suddenly left.

On the other hand, in Holbrook's eyes. He had been hoping that the text he saw yesterday was not what he had assumed it to be. He hoped that it was just them talking casually or he had read the wrong name. But now Alison was confirming the relationship his trainee had with her brother, it was all starting to make real sense to him that the younger woman was hiding something from him and the team.

"Was she around that summer?" Holbrook wanted to know more about Carly's past "The one when you went missing?"

The bitter smile grew more on Alison's face, knowing that the detective was now going to learn the truth about his trainee's past, giving Carly what she truly deserved "Let's just say she got real messed up."

* * *

Carly came back from her office doors around half an hour since she left them, her coffee cup from the Brew still tightly in her hand and her mood was still on edge due to the recent events.

She had no idea what to do about the whole Spencer thing and she was unsure if she even wanted to contact Melissa to notify her when Carly was supposed to be looking out for her little sister as promised. But here she was freaking out about her getting arrested and Carly having no power over it at all.

Laying her bag down onto the table, she noticed a bright yellow sticky note attached to the top of her laptop lid, signalling a new set of tasks had been brought to her and that is what she needed to get on with for the rest of the day.

Thank god, she wasn't going to be just sitting around and waiting for Holbrook to come back to give her updates, otherwise her mind would have certainly being going in to overdrive about Spencer. At least this way she had at least some distraction from it all.

Taking a large sip out of the rest of her coffee, she went over to the trash can and tossed the cup inside, before she came back over to her desk and laid her bag down away onto the table, so she could get stuck into her work and also start processing her thoughts elsewhere, other than Spencer being arrested any time soon.

Quickly she read over the sticky note again about what work she had to do, before she wondered over to the filing cabinet in the far side of the room to retrieve some files, to go over a few documents and photocopy them for other usage by other cops on the force.

Just as she had fished out the paperwork from the files, the sound of foot steps and a light tap at the door, broke her attention away from the documents and onto the person who had now entered the room.

"Good afternoon Carly." Lieutenant Tanner greeted the young woman, as Carly looked over at her in the entrance of her office.

What the hell was Tanner doing here? Was she in trouble for something?

"Good afternoon Lieutenant Tanner," Carly chimed back standing up straight and turning her body fully onto Tanner "Is there something I can help you with?"

"No thank you, I was just stopping by to let you know I got the chance to read over your report in my lunch break." The older informed her trainee with a small smile.

"Oh." Carly beamed back surprised.

She had really beginning to think that Tanner had forgotten all about the report Carly had worked her ass over.

"I'm very impressed. It was outstanding. You should be proud of yourself," Linda Tanner told her as Carly felt herself break out into a triumphant grin that her work was being recognised "I have got a question for you though. Do you feel like you're being challenged with the work you are doing now?"

"As in right now? like this week?" Carly asked to clarify and she got that confirmation when Tanner nodded "Um. I mean," She knew she had to be honest because this was her Lieutenant "I understand that after what happened last week, I knew that there would be a consequence for my actions. We both agreed that my progress would be pushed back and I would basically be starting from the lower end of the scale. I mean, I would do whatever it takes to get to where I want to be. So if that means doing the work I am doing now, then so be it."

"But do you feel like you're being challenged?" Tanner asked again, wanting her trainee to just be 100% honest, even though she knew the real answer, she just wanted to hear it from her mouth.

"If I am being honest, then no I don't think I am, Lieutenant Tanner." Carly answered truthfully, her heart beginning to pound with anxiety at how Tanner might have took her honesty.

Was she being way too honest?

"I agree," Tanner nodded as Carly blinked back in response "I think I was maybe a little too harsh on you. You were hardly breaking the law by interrupting my investigations or doing anything wrong by just talking to Aria. But I hope you get now, that this is a serious business, we have to stick by rules, we cannot just share information with our loved ones, it's strictly private and confidential."

"Oh I know that! And I promise you I would never do that. I haven't nor will I ever repeat any information whilst I am on the force." Carly promised her with a tight smile.

It was true. She would never go against the rules whilst she was working on the case or the team. She knew how important it was.

"Good, now we have made that very clear, I have also come to tell you, that starting next week, I would love to ease you back into coming along with me to investigations inside and outside of the station." Tanner told her.

"Are you serious?" Carly gasped back in shock.

She was so sure her punishment was going to last longer than only a week. This was such great news and totally the opposite of what Holbrook had suggested earlier.

"Yes! After reading your report and rethinking about everything that happened, I think I could at least give you another shot." Tanner replied back.

"Thank you so much!" Carly thanked her with gratitude as Tanner nodded back at her, before laying the report down onto the desk and leaving the office.

Grinning madly, Carly picked up the report and flicked through it, noticing that Tanner had stuck sticky notes over certain pages, giving her feedback on some areas. Carly couldn't believe that she was actually being given another shot just like that. Her report must have really impressed Tanner enough to bring her back to investigations within the next week.

She was so pleased with herself for standing her ground and not giving up easily. She was glad her hard work was paying off and finally be recognised. Whatever Holbrook had told her earlier, made her doubt what she had even thought about herself, but now she felt like that good book might have existed, since Carly was back in it again after all.

* * *

Even though she had been panicked since before lunch about Spencer, Carly was feeling more calm and in a better mood than before, due to Tanner coming in after her lunch and telling her the good news. She finally felt like she was going to be able to get somewhere and her week of pity work was coming to end sooner than she had thought.

For the rest of her shift and for the time that she waited for Holbrook to return back to the station, she had gotten on with the tasks that were left for her, which included filing, researching, photocopying and helping out on the front desk when needed.

Thankfully, time had been going quite quickly that afternoon and it was a little under an hour now until her shift was over for the rest of the day. She had just got up from the front desk after taking a phone call and was on her way back inside her office to check her emails, as well to see if there had been anything from detective Holbrook who she was still waiting for.

When she took a seat down on her desk chair and clicked on her emails, to see no recent ones from the Detective, a bad feeling washed over when she realised that maybe Gabe had forgotten about her. Maybe he wasn't coming back to up date her on the case and she was just going to have to be out of the know for longer than she had intended.

Sighing in frustration, she climbed back up onto her feet and began to tidy away some documents and files that were scattered about on her desk. She hated working in a cluttered environment, to her it was like if she was surrounded by a untidy space, then she wouldn't be able to focus properly and her mind would end up just as messy.

As she started to pick up a few documents and slid them into the correct files, someone entered the office, they had just gotten in from being on investigation that afternoon, when they had been a little longer than intended, due to sitting in their car for half of it, on an old laptop, watching some important information he got given.

But now he was back. He could finally give Carly what she really deserved.

Upon seeing her filing away some paper work, unaware at first that he was actually there and what was to come would honestly surprise greatly, a smug look grew on his face as he stepped inside the office more, trying to grab her attention that he was now here.

Feeling his presents come more into the room, Carly glanced up from her leant over position on the desk and her eyes met with his, his smug look from before vanishing quickly as he tried to hide it from the girl, so she wouldn't suspect a thing.

"You're back." She said facing him with the files in her hand.

As she took a look at him for the first time that afternoon, a sudden tension hit her in the face, for some unknown reason to her, he was giving off this really weird vibe again to her, that somehow made her feel slightly uncomfortable to be back in his space again. It was just like earlier, every time she was around him the past day or so, she just felt like he was up to something or that she had done something wrong to annoy him. She didn't have a clue what it was.

"Yeah I was a little longer than intended, but you've still got time to get back on track with the case, right?" He asked her with hopeful eyes.

He needed his plan to work.

"Yeah my shift doesn't end for just under an hour, so I have got time. I don't mind staying a little while longer if we run over. As long as I'm up to date and don't feel lost any more, then I'm cool with that." Carly explained to him.

"Well you tidy up and I'll go grab a coffee. Then we'll start." He instructed as he laid the file he had been carrying down onto the desk with his laptop now placed on top.

"Great! Thank you for this, I really appreciate it." She tried to ease the tension in the room the best that she could.

"It's fine. You need to stay in the know." He replied, as she lightly smiled back at him, before he nodded and left the room to grab a refreshment, leaving Carly to do as he told her and she had already began doing moments before he had turned up.

A few minutes later, Holbrook returned to a clean and tidy office, with a steaming coffee cup in his hand and his trainee detective standing beside her end of the desk, waiting for his return back from his trip to the coffee machine.

As he came into the room, he carefully closed the door behind himself and turned the half-open blind completely shut, before he continued to do the same with the window blind, meaning that now no-one could seen in and they couldn't see out of the office.

Once he had done that, he wondered back over to the desk and sat his coffee cup down onto the surface. His next move was that he grabbed hold of his laptop and opened it up, before lying it back down and starting up the device. Whilst that was loading, Carly's eyes watched him suspiciously, as he moved over to the projector on the other side of the office, where he also turned that on and began to set it up.

"What are you doing?" Carly asked confused by all of his actions in the past minute or so. She thought they were just going to sit down together and read over the files.

"We're going to be watching a few tapes first to help you get up to date, then we'll go over the reports and that in the file after." Holbrook informed her as he kept his back to her, trying to hide the ever growing smirk of mischief. She really had no idea what was really going on.

"Ah I see. Ok." She said quietly back.

Once he had set it all up, he came back over to the laptop and took a side look at her, his eyes and fingers busy getting the disc ready to play on his laptop, so that it would project up onto the screen on the opposite wall to the projector.

"Make yourself comfortable, Miss Monroe."

Smiling awkwardly at his odd behaviour, she took a seat on one of the chairs that were perched under the long desk they shared and was opposite to where the screen was, meaning it would be easy for her to watch if she was face on, rather than from her own chair where she would be looking at it on a slant.

Within a few moments, Holbrook had finished setting everything up and grabbed a remote that was for the projector to use to press play on the video. The screen on the wall lit up black, signalling that the video was ready to play and that Holbrook was fully in control now.

"Are you ready?" Holbrook asked her with that annoying smirk on his lips.

It certainly didn't go unnoticed to Carly this time. Increasing her suspicions about what this guy was playing and why he was acting so odd with her still.

"I'm always ready." She told him smartly, before folding her arms and turning her head to look at the screen instead of him.

Knowing that she might have been ready for the video's start, but certainly not for what was about to play on the screen, he slowly hit play on the remote and wondered over to the light switch beside the door. He carefully dimmed the lights, so it made the video more easy to see, since most of it was filmed in the dark from what he could work out earlier when he had watched it.

Instead of looking at the tape playing on the wall, his eyes instantly wondered over to Carly, wanting to watch her reaction to what she was about to see. This might have been the most cryptic thing he was ever going to do. But if it meant, he could make the girl see sense, make her change whom she was interested in and even make her chances of staying on the force slimmer, then he would do whatever it takes, because he wasn't going to just allow her to come in here and change things for him. He always got what he wanted.

Carly found herself sighing a little when she continued to stare at the black wall, even though Holbrook had pressed play, it was still black and she just wanted to the tape to actually go somewhere, so she could get up to date with the case already and feel like she was back on track. Also she wanted to get out of here soon because he was seriously giving her the creeps with how he was acting.

Around thirty seconds had past, until the tape suddenly went from black to the image of a hallway, it was fairly dark from what she could make out on the screen, but there was a glimmer of light at the end of the hall, what made Carly guess that this tape was from a house or some form of building.

Maybe they had gotten some new information from Radley and this was it? Or maybe this was taken from Alison's on the night of the disappearance? But that certainly did not look how she remembered the the inside of the DiLaurentis' to look. Maybe she had been away that long that she had completely forgotten or maybe it was just too dark she couldn't make it out? Whatever it was. It was starting to creep her out more.

Her eyes continued to fixate on the screen, whilst Holbrook's were kept on hers. The tape progressed further, the sound of someone's footsteps could be heard and it wasn't long before a figure came out of the shadows. Carly felt an uneasy feeling bubble up in her stomach, when the figure revealed themselves on the video and she wasn't sure she was going to like watching the rest of this.

It was Ian. Ian Thomas. Jason's ex best friend. Melissa's dead ex-fiancé.

Ian grabbed hold of the camera, like it had been propped up onto something before and he was now taking a hold of it. Carly knew too well how much time that guy spent with a camera in his hand. But what Carly didn't have any idea of was why Detective Holbrook was showing this to her now? Was it really relevant to how far along they were in the case? She had expected it to the recording from Alison's lie detector the other day.

The camera was then positioned in front of Ian's face, the usual sly and mischievous look was present on his face, like he was up to know good and Carly knew exactly what this recording was used for. The stupid club that Ian, Jason and Garrett were apart of, Melissa somehow even getting involved in at one point, but it was one that she never got herself involved with voluntarily and hated knowing Jason had some form of contribution to. She was glad by the time she got to know him better he had stopped all of that and had nothing to do with it any more.

Swallowing away the lump what had formed in her throat, she unwrapped her arms from around her chest and instead wrapped them around her stomach in comfort from the uneasy feeling she felt in the pit of it. She just wished this tape would get over with and move onto the next one. Was really seeing Ian's face relevant for the case or just an accidental punch in the face about her past?

Suddenly the video began to go fuzzy and the sound was lost, signalling that the part of the recording either was lost or had stopped working at the time, meaning that it had jumped straight to the next clip along, that was increasing her anxiety more and more with every second that past.

The screen now presented a scene of a dimly lit room. The sound of loud thumping and music could be heard in the distance, signalling that some form of party or gathering was going on outside the walls during the night. The tape began to fast forwards itself as someone left the room and it stopped again on the same scene as before.

It wasn't until the door was pushed open, the sound's of loud voices, talking, shouting, laughing, the music and bass booming together with the voices, the newly lit light from the hallway outside came into the room, giving more light to the room that was on the tape, that Carly began to realise what she was actually seeing with her own eyes.

The familiarity of the room and what the contents of the tape actually was hit her like a train coming past on a track at a great speed. She recognised that room so very well. Even if she had been a little tipsy, had downed a couple of shots before she approached the guy and basically seduced him into being with her for that night.

The guy in the video, that Carly once liked and now detested, stepped into the door way of the room, you could see a smaller figure behind him holding onto his hand tightly, he was busy shouting at someone down the hall who was teasing him and the person he was with. It was all happening just moments before everything seemed to have changed for Carly.

She still remembered every single detail of that night when she was reminded of it. Just like now. The memory was hitting her fast. The disgust and shamefulness she felt about her past, including her actions and the choices she made rose to the surface. But despite that, all she could ask herself was why Holbrook was doing this?

How did he have the tape?

Why was he showing her the tape?

What was he trying to do?

* * *

 **Author note:** **I decided to upload this week since it's Christmas in a few days and I kind of felt like this was my gift to you for being such lovely people!**

 **I really hope you liked this part. Just two more parts now until JASON is back! I hope you're excited and it has been worth the long over due wait. The whole reason I kept it on for so long was because I wanted to make it as realistic as possible, as well as follow the show and when Jason would be in particular episodes. But I will give you guys a teeny tin clue, when Jason returns, everything goes a hell lot faster for the both of them in terms of their relationship.**

 **Also I just wanted to say in response to nico229 review, that I was going to base this story more of Carly's point of view since she is my O/C, but also because Jason isn't a major character in the actual show, so I never know truly how he would feel about certain situations since we don't get to see a lot of him, which obviously is a shame. But for your benefit and anyone else who would like to see more from Jason's side of things, then I will try my very best to do more of Jason's side of things to the best that I can to suit his actual character in the show.**

 **Thank you so much for nico229, , RHatch89 and ArrowTheaQueen for reviewing on the last part. I love reading your reviews, so thanks for sharing them. I can't believe I am 5 away from 100 now! That's insane. Thank you!**

 **Have a good Christmas and if you don't celebrate Christmas, then I hope you have a great day also!**

 **Thanks so much,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	29. Dangerous Substance

**Dangerous Substance:**

 _The guy in the video shook his head amusingly at the other guy he had been yelling at from down the hall, after they had yelled some words of enthusiasm and mocked him for bringing the girl up to one of the rooms in his parents house, the same house he threw his monthly parties at whilst his parents were out of town on business._

 _Leading the girl threw into one of the spare bedrooms of the house, he closed the door behind them and turned to face the girl fully, a charming and naughty smile playing on the corner of his lips, whilst she shone a mischievous yet innocent look back at him._

 _Walking over to the edge of the bed, he sat himself down on top of it and opened up his legs, allowing her to step inbetween them, her hands landing on his shoulders and his hands gently sitting on her hips, which were covered up in a tight red body con dress, a form of attire she wasn't use to wearing, since she was more than happy to put on a pair of jean shorts and a cami._

 _But with Cece encouraging her to go out of her comfort zone and catch the attention of a few guys, she squeezed herself into the dress, the older girl had picked out for her in a boutique in town earlier on in the day, when Jason had suggested that they get to know each other a little better and spend some girl time together and for Jason's sake, they had both agreed._

 _Glancing up at her in amazement that he had her in this situation, her eyes fell on him and she looked down at him threw her lashes, his hands softly moved down her hips and onto the sides of her bare thighs, where the dress didn't quite reach and the material sat at the top of her thighs._

 _"You know, I'm not going to lie to you, I expected that we would find ourselves in this situation soon." He told her in complete honesty and in his so sure of himself ways._

 _"Oh really?" The girl raised her eyebrows up, as she traced her fingers across his neck, the tension she felt between them growing every second and she had no idea what she was doing, because she was so very new to all of this._

 _"Oh yeah. I've seen those little little look's we've been giving each other the past couple of weeks. It was bound to happen sometime soon." He replied remembering the times when he had caught her walking into the same room._

 _His eyes instantly drawing over to her, he had been seeing a lot more of her lately, he had met her a few times and found her attractive. But it wasn't until recent, that there something about her that made him really want her. He had been trying to grab her attention by looking at her until she would look back at him and when she did he would nod his head at her or give her a look._

 _Tonight had been different though. He had no idea she was coming and was surprised when he saw her walk through the door alone, not with her usual group or clung to the DiLaurentis guy she always seemed to be with. When they spotted each other across the room, she had made her way over to him instantly, where he offered her a drink and they began to talk._

 _When she had spotted a few people she knew, she had walked away from him and over to them, but her eyes occasionally wondered over to him, like they always did when she saw him looking at her. It was hard to not look over at someone when they were always looking at you. But tonight there something different lurking in the air between them._

 _He got this vibe that it was going to be a lot more than just a few occasional glances between the two or a small conversation they had with one another when they past each other like it always was. Instead they were definitely going to be seeing each other a lot more that night._

 _"Well it's hard to not look over at someone when their eyes are fixated on you for most of the night." She smirked back, as her fingers ran up his skin and onto ends of his hair on the bottom of his head._

 _"Don't deny that you don't appreciate me looking at you." He helplessly copied her facial expression._

 _"Oh no I have no problem with you looking at me, but the thing I wanna know is," She questioned him, his eyes still morphed into her own, the connection never breaking "why can't you take your eyes off me?"_

 _"Oh Carly, Carly, Carly," He chuckled, his hands going over back up her body and a light sigh escaped her lips at his touch, "I think you already know the answer to that."_

 _"I do?" She repeated innocently, with a quick bite to her bottom lip as she lowered her head to look at him more._

 _"Oh yeah." He clarified, before he brought his face closers to hers and it wasn't long before he pecked her lips lightly a few times._

 _He didn't want to give into anything just yet. He wanted to tease her for as long as possible, because he knew what she was and wanted to give her the best experience he could. He was pretty smug to say the least that she had approached him in the way that she had. Word on the street was that 'little miss Monroe was a sweet little virgin' as everyone liked to put it and was very hard to get. But if, she had approached Eric and seduced up to the bedroom, then maybe she wasn't as sweet as everyone thought._

 _When their lips broke apart, Carly rested her forehead against his, both of their breathing getting heavier due to the thick sexual tension in the room. She just wanted to get this over with and experience it for the first time. It was just an added bonus it happened to be with one of the hottest guys she knew._

 _"You know, we should really quite messing around and just get to it already," Carly spoke softly as her breath tickled his face "I think we both know why were here, don't you, Eric?"_

 _"Why don't you show me?" Eric grinned flirtatiously._

 _A mischievous smirk grew on her face as she brought her lips back down to meet with his, their mouths hit against one another, hungrily and rapidly, neither of them breaking apart or stopping this time. Carly's hands moved from his shoulders and down the upper half of his body, wanting to take his shirt off and move things on more._

 _This was her first time. She just wanted it to be over with so she could finally say that she had done it and didn't have to listen to everyone#s remarks any more about her. Also it would give her the chance to tick another thing off her list that she had to do before going off to college and living her life to the full that rest of the year._

 _But even though what was happening with Eric now, felt amazing and like nothing she had ever experienced before, like she was a completely new person and the dangerous Carly had rose to the surface, she couldn't help but hate the fact that it was actually happening, her first time was actually happening with one of the hottest guys she knew._

 _But it wasn't the guy._

She couldn't even believe she had been sat there, just allowing the tape to continue on like she was allowing the memory to flow back through her brain, her now tear pricking eyes never leaving the screen, her chest rising heavily in anger and fear at what she was seeing being played at. This had to be some nightmare that she was living.

But it wasn't. This was reality. The past was hitting her hard in the face now. She was so lead to believe that this tape was in safe hands or wouldn't be able to be found by anyone. It had only been the other week when it had got brought back up all over again, she thought that would have been the last of it and Eric's teasing was done with for that night.

But here, Detective Holbrook was showing it to her, like it was no big deal to her, but really it was such a big mistake for him to do that to her after all this time. She had to make it stop. She had to stop watching it and punishing herself for what she had done back then. It had to end now. She had to pull herself together.

"Make it stop!" She ordered at Detective Holbrook not even giving him her attention, because she was so transfixed on seeing the screen go black, wiping away any trace of Carly making out with a guy she had grew to dislike not long after that night "I said make it stop!"

Seeing how badly the girl was reacting to the tape and how triumphant it had been by playing it to her, Holbrook grabbed the remote in his hand again and turned it off for her, the screen going off and a horrible thick silence lingered over them.

Staring over at her once again, he found himself swallow harshly when he saw the state the girl really was in. Part of him felt guilty for making her react like that. The annoying part of him that still had feelings for her. He could see how erratic her breathing was, he could see the shakiness within her limbs and how she was holding back tears.

Maybe he had gone too far this time. He didn't want to punish her so much that it reduced her to tears and near enough have a heart attack on him. Holbrook had just wanted to scare her, make her see sense at what she was doing by being with a DiLaurentis and not him. It was risking her career a lot more than it was by being with him. He wanted her to know how much of a risk she was taking and give her a glimpse of what it would be like for her.

Yet he hadn't imagined for it to turn out like the way it had. But if he went to Alison for help about Carly, then why was he expecting for it to not turn out this bad, when Alison screamed trouble?

"W-w-were the hell did you get that?" Carly asked him wiping her face, before she finally turned to look at him, an angered and flustered look on her face, evidence showing of how much the past really did still affect her.

Holbrook felt his own heart rate quicken at her question, he couldn't be honest with her, it would ruin his career if he did "Does it really matter?"

"Y-y-es! Was it Eric?" She continued to integrate him.

"Eric?" He repeated confused, his eyes wondering down to the c.d case that the recording came from, putting two and two together "Oh the guy in the tape? No I've never met him."

"Then who?" Carly yelled at him in rage "Tell me!"

She didn't care about being quiet or any one else in the station hearing. She was going to find out the truth about why Holbrook would do this to her after everything. He was going to pay for his sick and twisted scare on her.

"Should I really be taking order from my trainee?" He asked smartly which only made her more angry with him. He couldn't win this one.

"Cut the crap, Gabe," Carly spat back at him as she rose to her feet unsteadily and faced him from across the room "This is serious. Where did you get that?"

"A close friend of yours." He answered. Though it was far from the truth.

A friend of hers? Melissa? There was no way she would do this to her after what she had kept a secret for her friends sake.

"A close friend?"

He had to tell her. Purely because he couldn't lie to her. He had to be honest enough to show to her how serious her position now was on the team. He would be able to use it as a threat and she would comply if she knew the truth behind it all. It was better this way. She wouldn't go tell Tanner after this. She had no gut left in her after this blow. It was exactly what he had wanted to do.

"Alison."

When the name fell from his lips, low and dryly, Carly felt the anger inside with her bubble up more and more, the same girl who seemed to try ruin her life day in and day out back then, was still causing drama for her even when she was back in town three years later and Gabe was making himself apart of Alison's drama just to help ruin Carly for her past mistakes.

What kind of cops did this station recruit? This was beginning to turn out to be some sort of sick joke that Carly couldn't stand to be around much longer. It had to change.

"Alison is not my friend." Carly corrected him. It was true. The teenager and her had never been friends, not even close and she doubted she ever would be.

"But you were still around that summer right? Holbrook asked slyly and it finally dawned on her that this felt like some sort of interrogation, that Holbrook was trying to work out something about her, that's what his plan had been since day one, find out all about her, every single detail that made her the way she was and all she could do right now was stay silent "That's why you left so abruptly on your first shift when I asked you, since then I have had my theories about you. I've wondered so much about you."

"How is any of this relevant to the case?" Carly snapped at him not wanting to be treated like a suspect any second longer "You think I'm guilty of something?"

"Oh I know you are." He smirked.

"What? You think I kidnapped Ali? Or I was the one who killed Bethany Young? Or any of the other people who have somehow died the past three years?"

His theories were ridiculous. She wasn't guilty of anything to do with the case. All she had been was an innocent stand byer in everything that year.

"You're not a killer. But you're guilty of splitting up a relationship, am I right?" Holbrook presumed as a frown formed deep on her face.

"I never split them up." She grumbled through gritted teeth.

That remark was just so Alison. Holbrook had definitely really gone to town with his information her from Jason's little teenage sister, that wasn't true or even relevant to the case, the whole reason Carly had thought they were watching video's. But maybe, Holbrook had known a lot more than she had first thought. Maybe the whole reason he went to Alison was for knowledge about Jason and Carly.

"Oh so you know what I'm talking about then." He replied.

Of course she knew who and what he was referring too.

"Jason." She breathed.

And it was like something inside of her, felt a wave of calm wash over her at the reminder of him and how she wished he was here in this situation, she was pretty sure he would stick up for her and give Holbrook a piece of his mind, like he had a few times with other people who sturred up trouble with Carly. But Carly was going to have to do that this time round. She was going to have stick up for herself and prove that she was a new person who dealt with things better.

"How long has that been going on?" Holbrook asked.

"How long has what been going on?" She repeated like she had no idea. But she had some form of idea what he was on about. In reality though, it hadn't been going on as long as Holbrook probably had thought. Unfortunately it wasn't even a three year thing.

"You and him?"

"There is no me and him." Carly stated. Oh how she wished there was though.

"I know there is." He pressed still hung on the idea.

"How would you know? Are you stalking me?" She asked in disbelief at how crazy he was behaving towards her that evening. No doubt he was stalking her to be honest.

"No."

"Alison told you there was?" She guessed. Carly knew the girl's tricks too well.

"All Alison told me was that you split up Jason and Cece! And that you have a wreck lass past. I can threaten you to do anything with that tape." He explained to her as he took a few steps forward.

"Why would you want to threaten me?" She titled her head to the side in confusion, because all honestly, she was so unsure why he was doing this to her "I thought we were good? You're supposed to be my friend and my mentor?"

"That was before you kept rejecting me. That was before I found out about you and Jason." He told her with anger in his eyes, what scared her a little at how far he could go to get her to be his.

Shaking her head in annoyance, she allowed a sigh to escape her "There is no me and Jason for starters..."

"But you wish there was," He cut in with a louder pitch to his voice and with every sentence he stepped closer to her "I know your game, Monroe. Come in here, this station, playing the good girl, swoon me with your looks and flirty comments, convince Tanner you're perfect for the role, you get qualified and become a detective! You out do all of us of a job, especially me!"

There was no holding back now after that. She was so going to put him in his place.

"Oh please!" Carly fake laughed "I do appreciate that compliment. But that's not how it is! I'm not playing any game by being here, I'm just trying to do my job and be the best person I can be, which I thought is what you were doing all afternoon, I thought you were doing your job, but maybe you weren't? Instead you were going behind my back and talking to Alison about my past, how professional of you, Detective Holbrook."

Holbrook was only a few metres away from her now, he shook his head as he listened to every word he said before he had his say again "You want to talk about professionalism, Miss Monroe? What about your past? I'm sure some of the information you've got tucked away up there," he pointed up to his head "could really help us solve a few things on the case, couldn't it?"

"There you go again with the whole guilty thing!" She shot back, ready to let him know who the real Carly Monroe really was, not the girl they all once knew and Holbrook was so interested to know all about "I am not guilty of anything! I'm a trainee detective! I can't you tell you anything or manage the case for you. That's all your's and Tanner's role. I just sit there, learn from the both of you and help out whenever I'm told to. You think I'm guilty of something, then bring me in for questioning, but how are you going to explain it to Tanner?"

He chuckled in amusement at her words this time "Tanner already thinks you're hiding something from us, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to question you."

"And when she does, she'll get no further with her investigating, because all I ever was to Alison was the girl who apparently who broke her brother up from his girlfriend, who was also Alison's best friend," Carly told him sternly, before a mischievous grin grew on her face, wanting to put him back in his place "I'm not the guilty one here, Detective Holbrook. You are!"

"Me?" Holbrook replied surprised at her change in her behaviour.

"Oh yeah! You went over to Alison's house without Tanner, talked to Alison without her Dad around I'm also presuming, to get dirt on me to use against me in becoming a better detective than you? I'm sure Tanner would love to here all about that. You disgust me!"

It was true. He did disgust her so much. He acted like he was a saint in all of this and like she was the devil, when really he was the one who had done wrong and Carly was going to make sure that he knew he had. It would then stop him from trying to threaten her again.

"You've haven't been here long, Miss Monroe. I can get you kicked out of here in no time, your little dreams of becoming a detective will be over."

"What? Just because I have a past with Jason and I lost my virginity at eighteen with some random guy? You think Tanner's really going to want to sit through and watch a sex tape that Ian Thomas recorded one night? Does me having sex with a guy make me guilty of anything? You even said so yourself that you have no idea who Eric even is, so it's a waste of time going to Tanner with this disgusting tape," She explained to him, not even once letting him interrupt or spit some other horrible comment at her, this was her time now to threaten him and let him know just how serious she was.

"So let's make a deal. I won't tell Tanner you went to Alison's without her and were trying to get information on me from when I was a teenager, only if you hand me over the tape and forget that this ever happened? Deal?" Carly proposed to him hopeful he would agree.

She needed that tape back in safe hands. Because no one else could hear about this. Having Holbrook in the know about all of this was enough for one day, let alone Tanner or her Dad finding out also.

Holbrook shook his head again, not sure if he bought her act at all "You think it will be that easy?"

"Oh I know it will!" She smirked bending down to pick her bag up off the floor and she laid it down onto the desk "Because I'm pretty sure Tanner would be more worried that you went round a minors house without any other adult round, than watching a teenage Carly lose her virginity on tape. It would be a complete waste of her time, right?" Carly raised her eyebrows up, before she held her hand out to him "Now hand it over."

Taking a look at her, he had to really use his detective skills to see if she was buffing or actually being serious about all of this, he had seen her break but he didn't realise how strong she could come back from being hit, it surprised him to say the least, since he didn't expect it after her sudden reaction when she watched the tape back.

After realising she wasn't going to give in any time soon or break down like she had again, he leant over and took the disc out of the tray of the laptop, before he placed it back into the case it came from that he got from Alison and slowly passed it over to her, their eyes never leaving each others.

Once he had handed it over to her, she quickly took it from his grasp and shoved it down into the lower end of her bag, hidden out of sight from not only the two of them, but anyone else who she would be in close proximity to whilst she was still at work.

As he watched her place it into her bag and her back slightly turned to him, he spoke up again, wanting to aggravate her more for how badly this planned had seemed to go in the end, it had started so well with her crumbling, but now she was back to her old fighting spirit.

"You know keeping your past a big secret won't always work, it will catch up with you soon and Tanner won't even think twice about keeping you." He told her and she felt her heart begin to race again.

Carly understood just how right he was about that. Her past would catch up with her one day and it scared her more than anything. That's why she tried so hard to keep what happened to her back then a massive secret. She would do anything to keep it that way. Just like today, she had stood up for herself and put her superior officer into his place, rather than letting him walk all over her, just like the old Carly would have just let it happen. She wouldn't let him see her crumble ever again.

"Maybe she won't. But right now I'm not worried about that as I'm not doing anything wrong. You're the only one who did something to risk her truth," She fished the report she had received that afternoon after her lunch break from Tanner herself, the same report that the Lieutenant had been so impressed with that she had given Carly back her ability to go out on investigations and she spun round to show it off in Holbrook's face "Look's like I won it back."

Upon seeing the paperwork the younger woman held up in her hands at him, he felt the heat and anger rise within him, Holbrook was began to find it very hard to breathe in their office and was sure that if he didn't get out soon, he would probably end up trashing the whole place in a frustrated rage.

Knowing he had to get out of there, he quickly turned around and marched his way over to the office door. Once he had arrived he pulled upon the door with a force and stormed out of their office space, leaving the door to slam shut behind him and the woman he had actually damaged.

Once she knew he had gone and wasn't coming back any time soon, she felt her body tremble with fear and the fact she it was now sinking in at what she had just been through with Holbrook. She had never expected that this would have happened.

After the past few weeks, she thought they were on good terms with each other and he had accepted the fact that they weren't going to be nothing more than work collegues or friends. But then this happened. It was like everything between them and her coming into work was going to change. It was a total mess.

The tears that had pricked her eyes and forced herself to push away, hit her hard and fast, she threw her hand up to her mouth to muffle her sobs and it was the first time in a long time that Carly just allowed herself to break down and cry.

It so wasn't worth it, to be crying over her superior, but she seriously couldn't hold it back any more. It was like the past few weeks and the realisation that she was back in a town that held so many painful memories was now her home all over again.

The relisation that her and Jason were on speaking terms again, things between them were good and there was no one getting in the way this time. That she was talking to Melissa also and they were helping each other out with whatever they needed. She was back to looking out for Aria and was even now felt like she had to protect Spencer also for Melissa's sake.

Everything just suddenly hit her at once, mashing together with the emotion she had felt during her encounter with Holbrook and now she was just an uncontrollable sobbing anxious mess. She really had to get out of there and fast. She couldn't even think properly being surrounded by these four walls.

There was no more sticking around for the rest of the day or till her shift was over, pretending that she was ok, when it was evident that she really wasn't and needed some form of relief from the way she feeling, because it had been a very long time since she had felt this upset and anxious.

Slamming her laptop lid shut, she quickly pulled her bag up onto her inner elbow and rushed over to the office door, the same door Holbrook had stormed out of seconds before she was now deciding to.

As she approached the door, she suddenly realised how much of a mess she probably did actually look. Quickly she wiped her face and tried to get rid of any make-up smudges from around her eyes, she didn't want to have to explain herself to anyone who might ask why she was dashing out so quickly. It was better if they didn't know. It was better if no one knew anything about her.

Pulling open the office door, she stepped out into the foyer and timidly wondered over to the front desk, where Tanner's assistant was always busy working and she knew that the older lady would believe her that she needed to go home right there and then.

Taking a deep breath, she laid her hands down onto the desk and was thankful that Tanner's assistant knew it was her already before she could even glance up at her "Hey Carly," She greeted her in a cheery voice until she looked up at the younger to see how dreadful she really did look "Oh Carly! Are you ok?"

"U-uh yeah I'm fine. Do you think I could leave a little early today? I've done everything, but I j-just t-think I might be coming down with something." She managed to spit out through her slight heavy breathing that the anxiety was giving her.

"Oh you poor thing. of course. Go!" The older pressed with a sorrow look.

Carly nodded her head back in gratitude, before she quickly rushed towards the exit and outside, where their was more air out there than there was inside the walls of the station, maybe she could actually get a hold of her breathing, but her anxiety was peeking harder and faster with every second that ticked by.

Lowering her head as she climbed down the steps outside, she jogged her way over to her car and quickly unlocked it with her cars, wanting to drive away as soon as she possible could, completely ignoring the fact she had been told many times before not to drive when she got in the state she was in. It was dangerous. But all she could think about was how bad she wanted this to stop.

Once she was inside her car, she placed the key into the ignition and laid her shaky hands onto the steering wheel. Taking a breath in, she started the car and began to pull out of her parking space, before she hit the road and with every moment that the car picked up speed it mirrored the speed of her heart rate.

Within a few minutes, she found herself pulling up outside a store that she had no idea she would even drag herself to, a store that she had never even bought from before and never had planned on until now. Maybe her teary eyed vision was to blame for her awful navigating to this place. But she was pretty sure, it was the fear and hurt she felt that was making her do something she was probably going to end up regretting.

But that didn't stop her legs from climbing out of the car, her hands again wiping away any evidence of her upset and there she went into the store. Once inside, she didn't even bother to look around and make a decision, instead her hands picked up the nearest red wine bottle and she took it to the counter to pay for it.

The next thing she knew, she was back at her apartment, her bag chucked down onto the kitchen table, her feet slipping out of her heels and then tiptoeing over to the cabinets in her kitchen space. Due to the amount of tears, the erratic breathing and pounding in her chest, it was like she wasn't even aware of what she was actually doing and instead was focused on the idea in hand.

Slowly, she pulled out a small glass from the cabinet and grabbed a bottle opener from one of the draws. Carefully, she opened up the liquid she had bought from the store and began to pour a relatively large amount into the glass, not even caring that if she drank it all or even just a sip of the drink, then there would be no going back from her, it would cause more problems than just Holbrook.

Unsteadily, she picked up the glass into her hand and stared down at the liquid sitting in the the transparent object. An uneasy feeling grew in her stomach, as she moved the glass around in her hands and felt the tears that had swallowed her up, suddenly stopped and her breathing hitched up in her throat.

Holding the glass higher in her hands, she brought it closer to her face and slowly closed her eyes as she felt the cold glass hit her bottom lip. The smell of the wine flooded her nostrils and the faint memory she had suppressed spread through the surface. It wasn't long before, she found herself choking on the air she had been holding back and the glass slipped out through her fingers, crashing down onto her floor below right next to her feet and spilling out the contents of the dangerous substance.

It was like the sound of the glass hitting the ground was enough to bring her back to reality and make her rethink how stupid was being by doing that to herself after all of this time. She knew she was way stronger than that and that's why it left her feeling nothing more than frustration at how the whole situation had made her act so irresponsibly.

Spinning round on her feet in a flash, she took hold of the wine bottle she had bought in town and threw it towards the wall of her apartment. Within a few moments, the bottle smashed against the wall on the other side of her apartment space and just like before with the glass, the contents exploded out of it and slid down the wall towards the floor.

Quickly she wondered over to her bag and retrieved her phone out from the contents of it, through her blurry vision that was filled with tears, she called the number of the person she was longing to speak to and let her know that everything was going to be ok, even if it wasn't, just the sound of their voice would soothe her in some way and take all the pain away for a second.

Disappointment came over her when the other line went to voice mail and she had no other choice than to leave a pathetic emotional voicemail to them, something she would probably regret doing when she got herself into a better place, but right now she didn't care about her behaviour. She just wanted this all to go away.

"Jason. I r-really need y-oou," Carly's voice broke within the first seconds of the message she was leaving "God, I am so scared of what I'm going to do. I bought a wine bottle from the store and I was so close to drinking it. I don't know what I was thinking. But I don't know what to do. Please call me back."

Disgusted at her actions and feeling so overcome with so many different emotions, Carly laid her phone down on the table, before she dragged her feet over to the couch and pulled a blanket she had left on the top of it the night before, over herself like a shield from any more negative energy hitting her and she shut her eyes tightly.

The anxiety, anger and sadness she felt, began to subside for the time being, her breathing returning back to normal and her mind began to cloud over, as she allowed herself to slip into a much needed sleep, unaware that by the time she would wake up, another wave would crash into her all over again.

* * *

 **Author note: Hello! I am back! My first official update of 2016. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a great new year! I can't believe it's 2016.**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys liked this part. You really saw Carly toughen up and stand her feet with Holbrook, but in terms of her own coping she might have took a down wood spiral. BUT we all know who is back in part 30 and he won't just be mentioned in the end or anything like that, you'll get a full chapter purely based on Carly and Jason!**

 **Thank you to Rhatch89 and ArrowTheaQueen for reviewing the last part. Thank you and a big welcome to anyone who is new to the story since the last update. Also thanks to everyone who has been reading it so far! I hope you are liking it and you're excited for the new part.**

 **Feel free to leave me a review! I love hearing from you all.**

 **Thanks so much,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	30. No Control

**No Control:**

To Carly it had felt like she had been in her slumber for only a good twenty minutes or so, but in reality she had been laying there wrapped up in the blanket on the couch, for just under two hours, completely unaware that the night's sky had rolled in around her and the living room she was situated in was now pitch black.

The sound of a gentle knock at her front door, broke her out of her sleep and made her jump at the sudden noise. Feeling sleepy and dazed, she opened her eyes slowly and was met with the darkness, the only light coming through the un-drawn windows that was shining light in from the street outside.

Feeling confused at what was going on and only now going to terms with that she had in fact fallen asleep, she gradually sat up from her previous position and leant over to turn on her floor lamp in the corner of the room, an instant lightness coming into the once dim room.

Rubbing the tiredness away from her eyes, she peered down under the blanket at the clothes she was still in that she had worn to work that day and it was when she pulled her hand away from her eyes, she spotted the dried make-up smudge now on her palms.

It was like a reminder of what had gone on with her moments before she had allowed herself to go to sleep. It was all coming back to her at how much of a mess she had got herself into when she got back from work earlier and what happened to Holbrook crossed her mind painfully.

The anger. The anxiety. The hurt. The sadness. It was all still there. It was going to take time for her to adjust to what happened and get her mind back to remaining strong. On the other hand, it could have took some miracle for her mood to quickly change and go back to her usual happy and strong self.

Suddenly another knock was heard at the door, another realisation that the knock that had woken her up, was in fact real and wasn't something she dreamt or thought she heard when she began to come round from her daze. There was in fact someone actually at her door.

Pushing the blanket off her body, she clambered off the couch and made her way over to the front door. Her eyes widened a little in horror when she saw the small pieces of smashed glass scattered upon her marble floor in the kitchen area, just a few steps away from where the door was and the now red wine stained white wall beside it , was enough for her to feel the tears that had left her whilst she slept, come back to her and her stomach dropped in the process at the faint smell of the alcohol substance, but also disgusted at what her emotions had nearly made her do.

However despite how she was left feeling now, she was somewhat glad that the only mess she was going to have to clear up was the smashed glass in her kitchen and get rid of the red stain off her wall. It could have been a lot worse her. She could have been picking up the pieces of a damaged and relapsed woman.

Shaking her head, she didn't even bother to hide the mess from whoever was behind the door, she knew it couldn't have been her Dad since he was supposedly at work, so she wasn't worried about him finding out about her near slip up any time soon.

Her other options were on Spencer whom might have actually wanted to speak to her now after not getting back to her all day despite Carly leaving her many messages on her phone, the other being Holbrook who was possibly coming to fight round two with her and there was the glimmer of hope that it was Brooke surprising her with a visit.

She prayed it was the last option. She hoped it was Brooke behind that door, ready to catch her and hold her with open arms. Carly knew she needed her friend right now. This was first time in the past three years she had been that close to washing her whole life away. Maybe she should have been the one jumping on the next flight to New York to visit her friend and save herself.

Taking a deep breath, Carly gradually pulled open the door and found her eyes trailing from the persons feet up to their face as the gap between the door and her apartment got wider, where it wasn't long before a shocked and confused expression fell upon her.

"Jay?" Carly breathed feeling overwhelmed by all of the emotions inside of her as she glanced back at the person stood behind her front door. She couldn't help but let the tears that had returned, drop out of her eyes and down her cheeks.

Seeing her pull back the door timidly to reveal the state she was, was enough for Jason to feel his chest go tight at and he wanted nothing more than to take all the pain she was feeling away, he hadn't seen her so bad since that night and it scared him .

"Jeez... Carly..." his voice was low and gentle, before a light sigh escaped his lips "come here."

Stepping towards her, he wrapped his arm around her back softly and pulled her carefully towards him. It wasn't long before his body collided with hers and her arms quickly clung to him, all of her emotions suppressing out in a muffled sob that was submerged into his chest and all Jason could do was hold her in the doorway.

For the both of them this was something completely new they were each having to deal with. Jason for the whole year he knew Carly, he had never once saw her break down and cry like she was right there and then. Whenever she got upset or was in a grump, they would always have a drink or he would try cheer her up somehow. She never went as far as full on sobbing on him. He wasn't used to it and it felt slightly strange for him to comfort her in the way that he was.

On the other hand for Carly, the way she was reacting was one she had not experienced in a good year or so. There had been a few times at college when she had broken down and just cried for hours. It was mainly during her first year and when she had been so close to going back to Rosewood that her emotions got the better of her. Thankfully, she had Brooke back then to talk to and cheer her up whether that meant going for a walk around the campus, going for a coffee or watching a bunch of Carly's favourite movies.

But this was different for her. It was so surreal for her to think that Jason had turned up here that night and now he was stood there just holding her. It was there first time having personal contact since that night when Jason had turned up at the apartment and even then things had gotten way too intimate. But this was a different side of their relationship they hadn't even gone into.

This somehow felt like a loving relationship. This somehow felt like the boyfriend had just returned from being away to his emotional girlfriend. However this was far from the real story between the two of them. Jason wasn't Carly's boyfriend. He wasn't even her ex. So why was she acting the way she was towards him?

Although he was definitely something to her.

"God!" Carly exclaimed after a few moments of smothering herself into Jason's warmth and it wasn't long before she pulled herself away and held her hands over her face embarrassed "I am so sorry. I am such a mess."

"Hey?" Jason quickly replied grabbing hold of her hands and bringing them back down to her sides "C'mon. Stop it. You don't have to hide from me."

"I know," she sighed a slight pout forming on her face as she glanced up at him "But you shouldn't have to deal with this."

"I'm here, aren't I?" Jason raised his eyebrows "That's got to mean something, right?"

Carly gave him a sheepish smile and folded her arms across her chest, unsure of how to reply to that. She didn't want to say something way too far forward and would regret later, since she wasn't exactly in the best way emotionally. But also she didn't know how to reply to that since she was still shocked that he had actually turned up at her apartment that night.

"Why don't we talk inside instead of in the door way?" He suggested looking around him, knowing that he would be able to talk to her properly if they had some privacy and wasn't allowing the whole of the apartment block to hear them talking, especially when it was going to be a sensitive matter no doubt by the condition Carly was in.

"Of course. Right." Carly nodded agreeing with him as she pulled the door open wider and wondered back inside, Jason following behind her and once they were both inside, he closed the door up giving them that privacy.

Turning back round to face him, her chest went tight when she saw Jason's eyes crawling over to the smashed glass on the floor, the red stain on the white wall and the light smell of wine in the air of her living space of her apartment. If she would have known he was coming here, she would have so cleared that up before he showed, it wasn't just a trigger for her, but him also. Maybe more than her.

"I am so sorry. I should have probably cleared this up, but I didn't know you were going to show up here." She apologised feel bad about the whole thing.

Jason peeled his eyes away from the mess on the floor and over to the girl he had come to see with a shake of his head "No. It's fine, honestly. Why don't you go wash your face and I'll clear this up?"

"Jason," Carly breathed and she was the one to shake her head this time as she stepped over to him "I can't let you do that..."

"Seriously, Carly, it's fine." Jason cut in before she could finish and gave her a reassuring smile.

Raising her eyebrows up at him, she slowly nodded her head and vowed to herself that she was going to be as quick as possible. She didn't want to have to leave him alone surrounded by that for too long. Even though it wasn't easy to consume after laying spilled on the floor for a couple of hours and she even hoped Jason was better now, but Carly couldn't let herself put himself at risk of going back to that life caused by one silly stupid mistake she made earlier on that night.

Going through into her bedroom and into her bathroom, she came to a halt in front of the sink and for the first time since returning home she saw her reflection in the mirror. A horrified feeling washed over her to see how grim she looked and had allowed even Jason to see her that way. What a way to impress the guy.

The make-up she had applied earlier on in the day had vanished from her face, all that remained was the smudges of mascara around her puffy eyes and stains of the black liquid down her cheeks. Her cheeks were slightly flushed from the crying yet her skin looked drained, like she needed a really good nights sleep and a glimmer of sunlight to give her that glow back.

Sighing at the state of herself, she grabbed a make-up wipe from a pack sat on one of her shelves in her bathroom, before she wiped any remaining make-up and the stains off her face. Once she had done that, she ran some water and proceeded onto washing her face with the warm liquid, trying to refresh herself and soothe her puffy eyes from the crying.

Turning off the tap, she took hold of her hand towel and wiped it over her face, her eyes never leaving her reflection as she did so, just like her mind never seemed to leave Jason either. If she would have known he was coming over to surprise her, then she would certainly made sure her apartment was spotless and that her appearance was also in the same condition.

Laying the towel back down, she moved onto her hair and pulled out the braided up-do that she had done earlier on in the day for work, before she ran her fingers through the now messy curls that had formed in her brunette locks.

Feeling like she really couldn't be bothered with how her hair or anything looked , Jason had already seen her at her worst now, there was no point trying to change things. Instead she pulled her up into a messy top knot, before she made her way out of her bathroom and back into the other room to see Jason.

As she stepped out, she saw Jason brushing the broken glass into the trash can from a dust pan and upon turning around, he was met by the sight of her. Her once make-up smeared face was now clear and natural, a sight he hadn't seen in such a long while and he was somehow just as mesmerised at just how someone could be that beautiful as he was back then.

Her hair was now up in a messy-do and the once two strands that had framed her face were pushed back, opening up her face, whilst her body was still clothed in the black high neck skater dress she had worn to work that day and her legs were covered in a pair of black tights.

"Hey," Jason greeted her as he laid the dust pan down onto the work surface and wondered round to stand a few feet away from her "I cleared everything up for you, apart from the stain obviously, but a coat of paint will surely do the trick."

"Thanks. You didn't have to that but I really appreciate it." She gave him a light smile.

"Have you eaten?" He asked her rubbing his hands together "I could cook you something, if you like?"

"Um no I haven't but I'm not really hungry," Carly answered as she followed her arms over her chest, part of her feeling strange about his request, this wasn't like the Jason she knew, but what did she know really about anyone these days"Thank you though."

"You've gotta eat." Jason told her.

"I already told you, I'm not hungry." She snapped back and as soon as she did and saw the look of surprise on his face she felt guilty about it.

Carly didn't mean to act like that towards him. Her mood was uncontrollable at that moment in time. She just felt angry and hopeless about everything that had happened within the past couple of hours, from the Holbrook thing to how close she had been to drinking again after all this time. And now that Jason was here, acting charming and different to his old self, she felt like he was an easy target to take her bad mood out on.

"Jason..." Carly sighed as she ran her fingers across her face and made her way over to er couch "I am sorry. I didn't mean to snap."

For Jason, he was clearly seeing the new side of Carly that he had hardly had any experience with. He was already learning a lot about her though and it wasn't just all from the moments he had seen her in person. Over video chat, she had showed new sides of her personality, ones that he grown to enjoy and others that had made him wonder what had changed her. He had his theories.

Following her over to the couch, he took a seat beside her only a few inches away from where she was now seated, her elbows resting against her knees whilst her head was held in her hands, clearly distressed and upset by something that Jason had no idea about. But he wanted to know so he could help her. He wanted to help her and make her happy again so badly.

"It's fine," He assured her because really it was, he could handle a snap from her towards him, because he had most certainly been through worse over the years regarding people being spiteful "You're not hungry. I get it."

"It's not that." Carly replied shaking her head.

"Then what is it?" Jason asked worriedly "Because the girl I heard on the voice mail sounded broken and I can see her now with my own eyes that she is clearly not her usual self tonight."

"It's complicated." Carly muttered.

Did she really want to have to tell Jason how weak Holbrook had made her feel? How disgusted and violated she felt about what went on? How much seeing that tape again made her feel sick to the stomach about her past?

The same past that involved him.

"Well I like complicated," Jason shrugged moving closer to her "you know I attract the most complicated and dramatic things into my life."

"I don't think that's something to brag about." Carly teased, as she finally removed her hands and took a side glance at him with a small timid smile.

"Maybe not," Jason smirked back at her "But it made you smile, didn't it?"

"I guess." She bit her lip, as she leant her body back against the couch and stared at the space in front of her.

See. It was true that he always somehow made her smile even through the toughest times.

"C'mon Carly," Jason sighed moving closer to her on the couch they were sat on "You know me, I'm not going to judge you or not try to help, because I came all this way for you."

"I know," She nodded in understanding and appreciation that he had really come all this way to be with her "You didn't have to come all the way to Rosewood though to see me. A phone call or a video chat would have been more practical."

"I know but I wanted to be here for you," He explained "I was actually planning on coming over to surprise you later tonight. But I knew that you needed me a lot sooner than I had planned on."

"You were coming to see me?" Carly glanced at him in shock at his confession.

Had he really already planned on coming to see her? She had literally no idea about the matter.

"Yeah," He nodded with a small smile at her reaction "You told me that if I ever came back to Rosewood, that I had to visit you. So I thought I would come back to Rosewood just for you."

"Jason.." Carly sighed in awe that he had done that for her and wanted to actually be with her, let alone when she was actually in the state she was in that night.

"So since I came all this way to see you, the least you could do is let me in on what's got you so shaken up and down, I've never seen you like this before." Jason told her truthfully with worry flashing through his eyes as he didn't take his eyes off her.

Hearing the reminder that Jason hadn't seen her behave like this before, was enough for her to feel overcome with emotion again. It was like a painful reminder of how her past had really damaged her and how she wasn't so great at hiding that tonight.

Over the past couple of years it had got easier, there was only a few moments when she felt ashamed and awful about her actions. She had been quick to recover from them with the help of Brooke and her college work to focus her on her path in life. But tonight had definitely been one of those moments, a moment that she wish would end soon and not be enough to scar her back to her old ways.

Fighting away the tears and panic that was wanting to edge it's way out in another attack, she lowered her head before finally speaking up and being honest with him "I found the tape."

"The tape?" Jason repeated in confusion at first, but then clocked on at what she meant by how she had been reacting and what they had discussed previously when she had confided in him about the situation "The Eric tape?"

"Yes." She confirmed not looking back at him.

"Did he threaten you with it again?" He asked concerned, his mind going into over drive with what could have happened to her with regards to getting her own hands on that tape and out of the wrong ones.

If Eric had done something to her, he wasn't going to just sit here and let it happen. He was going to put him in his place again, just like he had those years back when Eric had thrown some sly comment in his face about being's Carly first and that it wasn't him like Eric had presumed Jason had hoped for.

"No." She answered shaking her head.

"Are you sure?" He wanted her to be honest with him.

"Yes," She hissed back at him, turning to look at him this time, so he knew that she wasn't lying "I haven't seen Eric since that night. It wasn't him who threatened me with it."

Hearing that someone had threatened her with it, he felt the anger begin to bubble up inside of him and he had to clench his first slightly to get himself under control, he never was good at remaining calm, but he wanted to prove to Carly he had changed.

"Who was it?"

"T-t-he guy I w-work with..." She admitted shakily.

"You're signed to my sister's case, right?" Jason tried to put the pieces together, his eyes rolling over to the distance like he was deep in thought, thinking back to that time when he had seen the two in The Brew together, the first time they had spoke to each other for three years, as Carly blinked away the tears, knowing Jason was going to figure out who it was soon or later "Detective Holbrook threatened you?"

Upon hearing his name, Carly felt the emotions she had been trying to hold back floor through her again, the tears spilled from her eyes and down her cheeks, followed by a loud sob that she quickly covered her mouth shortly after, not wanting to make a fool out of herself in front of Jason.

Seeing her react to his name in the way she did, Jason scooted more over to the girl and pulled her into him, wanting nothing more than to get rid of any pain she was feeling and to get back the happy bubbly girl he had grown to know the last few weeks.

The side of her head collided with his chest, as she buried herself into him for the second time that night already and allowed herself to just cry on him, let all her emotions out and find support within his warmth and hold, something she hadn't felt in such a long time and just then she realised how much she missed him holding her.

"Why would he do that to you, Carly?" Jason asked a few minutes after the silence had broken and when her crying had begun to die down, he just wanted to get to the bottom of all of this, so he could help her and make her feel better.

"Because he feel's threatened by me," She informed him in a hoarse voice "Because I rejected him."

"You rejected him?" He asked back in surprise at what he was hearing.

"Yeah," She nodded slowly "We went on a date not too long ago, before you and I started talking again, it was nothing too serious, just the two of us out for dinner. I have always been set from the start that I never wanted to mix work and relationships, I had told him that a number of times. Then I guess I made a stupid decision on inviting him over one night..."

"What happened?"

"We had a takeaway and watched a movie. I guess I was feeling lonely and vulnerable about being back here, and I just wanted to feel something for someone than wasn't you. I guess I over stepped it and lead him on, I shouldn't have done it because ever since there's just been this awkward vibe between us. He's so adamant that he wanted to win me over. He wanted to show me how serious he was about us being an item. I thought he had been joking at first, but I guess after what happened earlier, I understand now that he is serious enough to threaten me with the tape and go out of his way to find out about you and me."

"How did he know about us?" Jason asked as Carly lowered her head and pulled away from him slightly, not wanting to have to break this part of the situation to him, knowing it would cause more drama between them if it was dealt with badly, however when Jason saw how quiet Carly had gone again he questioned more "How did he get a hold of that tape? There was no way in hell anyone would be able to get a hold of that since it was Ian's."

"I..." Carly whispered nervously.

She really did not want to have to tell him.

"Carly, how did he know about us and get his hands on that tape?" Jason pressed further, ignoring how on edge she did look "Tell me, please."

He had to know. He couldn't let this slide. He had to know. If there was someone out there threatening Carly, just like someone had threatened him a year or so ago, he had to know to protect her from getting damaged by her past. He couldn't have her leave town again.

"Your sister..." Carly confessed quietly, not even having the courage to look at him "He found out from, Alison."

Jason's jaw clenched at her words and he looked away from the woman beside him, in disgust that someone in his own family was responsible for her upset. He shouldn't have been so surprised. Ali was Ali. She never changed. It hadn't expected her to over the past few years. She was still the same old manipulative lying attention seeker that he grew up with. There was no point trying to change her however much he had hoped that she had followed in his foot steps of becoming a better person.

When she realised that he wasn't going to speak again, she finally looked over at him and saw the frustration on his face. She felt guilty for even bringing him into this. But she had to be honest with him as that it what he had wanted from her. He wanted to know what had got her in such a bad way and what the cause behind it really was.

But she knew that look on his face too well. She had seen it way too many times in the past. From what her memory had taught her, it was that Jason would act very strongly on his anger and when they had been closer, it had been a lot of the time his anger had with protecting her and making sure that he had kept her well whenever they were together.

However this time was different. She couldn't let him just go act on his anger. He had to control himself for her sake. It was way too risky for him to go let lose and punish those who had caused so much upset on her that night. It wasn't the right thing to do.

"Jason," Carly sighed and on impulse took a hold of his hand, wanting him to look at her and listen to what she had to say next "You can't go to Alison with this. You can't tell her that you know or I know," Jason gave her a strange look that she didn't want to do anything about this "She can't find out that we know, Jason."

"Why not?" He grumbled back angrily, but not with her, but with his little sister.

"Because I work on her case. If you say something to her, she's going to know that we're in contact again, she's going to want to try spilt us apart and get me in to trouble for being in contact with you. I can't afford to lose this job, Jason. You know how much this means to me. If Alison finds out that I know she's behind this, she is going to go to Tanner orHolbrook with more dirt on me. Tanner won't let that slide, Jason," She explained to him in desperate manner "Please, Jason. Promise me you won't do or say anything."

Giving her a long hard look, he tried his very best to control his anger in the situation and put her first before his ever growing mood, before he finally nodded back at her in defeat "Fine. I won't say anything. I promise."

"Thank you," She squeezed his hand tight and breathed a sigh of relief, she really did owe him for coming out here to see her when she really needed someone the most, "I mean it, really, thank you for coming all this way to see me, I really appreciate it and it's still a shock to me that you're here. But I'm really happy you are."

"I wasn't going to leave you alone." Jason told her squeezing her hand back and pulling her closer to him.

Moving more over to him, she allowed her body to brush up against the side of his, before she laid the side of her head on his shoulder where she could already feel the warmth and his usual scent hitting her, it took a lot of her own will power to not sigh in content at how good it was to have him around her again.

"Where is the tape?" Jason asked looking down at her, his face more relaxed and less tense than before.

"In my bag," Carly informed him as she glanced over to where she had dumped her bag on the kitchen table when she had come in that night "I'm going to lock it away and keep it somewhere safe. No one will get there hand's on it ever again."

"I hope you're right," Jason sighed, somehow he felt like all of this was his fault, if he hadn't of got her involved with his group in the first place then the tape would never have existed and Alison and Holbrook wouldn't be threatening Carly with it "what are you going to do about Holbrook?"

Carly looked down to the floor upon hearing his question, something that she wasn't so sure she knew that answer to just yet. She had made a deal with him to not mention anything to Tanner if he didn't also and gave her back the tape. Because he had followed through with her proposal, she didn't really see that there was anything more she could do for the time being.

"I don't know.." she shrugged "I guess keep my distance as much as I can. It will be hard since we work together and I share an office with him. But I think he's got the message. I doubt he'll try to mess with me again."

"And if he does..." Jason said somewhat bitterly, because as much as he was annoyed at Alison, he still was mad at Holbrook for even getting involved with his sister and trying to kick Carly off the team, as well as a form of jealously he felt that the two had share intimate moments whilst he had been away.

"Then I'll put a stop to it." she informed him trying to reassure him the best she could, even though she wasn't so sure herself, she still had to act tough for both of their sakes, she wasn't some teenager any more who needed Jason to fight her battles for her.

Nodding slowly at her response, he remained silent, unsure whether he could believe her or not due to how broken and distressed she had sounded in the voice mail she had left him earlier, as well as how she had broken down in front of him already on several occasions that night.

Could she really cope with another threat from Holbrook?

He knew that the old Carly would have never. But she was different now in some ways. Maybe she was right. Maybe she could put a stop to it for good.

"The new Carly seem's to have everything together." Jason told her with a slight smile, looking down at her again.

"The new Carly?" She glanced up at him confused.

"Yeah," Jason answered as she raised her eyebrows up for him to continue on "you're all grown up now. It's like I'm looking at a similar face, but you're not the same girl I remember. I mean some of you is still the same, but you just handle things different to what you use to. I guess I'm just trying to get use to the new Carly."

"I'm still the same girl, Jason," Carly felt like she was having to defend herself in front of him, because it was true, she was still the same girl, her morals and everything were still the same, she had just matured over the past three years of being away from home and having to deal with her consequences "I've just grown up, like you said."

"I know, I know," He agreed with her, feeling like he didn't want to offend her, because that wasn't his intention at all "It's just weird, isn't it?"

"I get what you're trying to say," She told him because she had felt the exact way about the situation they were both in a number of times over the past few weeks, "it's weird to think that we're talking again after all this time, just like we're friends again, like that night and the three years apart never happened."

"Exactly," Jason nodded "I feel like we've time jumped or something."

"Time jumped?" Carly repeated with a giggle escaping her lips at his phrase.

"Yeah," Jason smirked slightly after hearing her laugh "I don't know anything about what happened to you after that night and you know nothing about me, it's like we've just got this place now without any idea of how we got here."

"I know but I wanted to ask, I wanted to know what happened after I left town," Carly began feeling somehow sad about the past they both had never really talked about in detail, a whole three years of her life Jason didn't know about and Carly had no clue about him either "but I didn't want to have to do it over video chat. I didn't think it was something we could discuss so soon and especially without it being in person."

No, you're right," He unlinked their hands and laid on of his arms behind the back of the sofa, only a few inches away from where the back of her head was leant against, before he looked down at her "it will take time, but I have time to learn about the new Carly. I'd love to get to know her."

Laughing lightly under her breath at his compliment, she felt her cheek's flush slightly as she glanced away from him and her teeth grazed her bottom lip shyly, knowing that if she dared to even look at him, she wasn't sure she was going to be able to control herself.

Due to the events of the night and having Jason back at her apartment again, she was feeling overwhelmed with emotion, so much so that the sadness and anger she felt about Holbrook was beginning to wear off for the time being. Instead it was being replaced with a sudden urge to be close to Jason.

After weeks of talking, flirting and hinting to each other about the intimate night they shared together not long ago, she was finding it hard to think of anything else than what she wanted to do with him that evening, now that he was here and telling her that he wanted to get to know her more all whilst looking at her the way he was. It was a look she had somehow gotten to know since that night.

For Jason, there was no doubt about him feeling the same way she was. Whenever he was around her, he couldn't help but want to be closer to her. It had been that way ever since they had gotten to know each other all those years ago. Even more so when they had confronted each other about the feelings they had shared and when they had planned to leave to New York together.

Whether they were hanging out in the woods or at some house party, Jason would always have to have her by his side, whether that was his arm around her or letting her cuddle into him, there was hardly ever a rare moment when she wasn't attached to his him. So for Jason to have Carly back by his side again, his arm close enough for him to wrap round her like old times, was enough for him to allow anything else that was about to happen, happen all over again, in the way that it should have this time, not rushed and most certainly more of a hello this time rather than a long waited goodbye.

Pulling herself together after a few moments of silence, she turned her head to look at him, a strand of her hair fell down her face, the same strand that had been hanging earlier that day as it framed her face, her eyes staring into his own, her breathing slightly heavier than intended as she spoke up, her voice barely above a whisper "I really am happy that you're here though, Jay."

"Likewise, Carls." Jason grinned back at her, lifting his hand up and brushing his fingers over her cheek, before he gently hooked the strand of fallen hair round her ear, his eyes never leaving hers as he did so.

Without even thinking or seeing if that was what he wanted also, she smashed her lips onto his and it wasn't long before she felt him cup her face in his hands, allowing his own lips to melt into a slow yet gentle kiss, different to what the goodbye kiss had been like all those weeks ago.

Feeling his lips on her own, was enough for a warm fuzzing feeling to grow in the pit of her stomach and she laced her hands around his neck, bringing him closer to her, not wanting to be apart from him any longer. The weeks they hadn't seen each other had been long enough for her and if they were really going to become something, then she wasn't going to waste any more time. Because in her eyes this was it. There was no holding back now.

Surprised at how eager she was to be intimate with him, Jason quickened the kiss but kept it gentle, allowing his tongue to escape into her mouth and his hands to tangle into her hair. Within a quick motion, he pulled the hair bobble that had been holding her hair up and allowed the loose waves cascaded down her back, shorty followed by his fingers lacing their way through her locks.

As the kiss heated up between the pair, Carly found herself slowly starting to lose control and it wasn't long before she slipped her hands up his top, her hands moving over his smooth abdomen up to his chest that was scattered with light hairs. It was enough to make Jason sigh into the kiss at her touch. He was still so surprised at how much she was acting like she wanted him and how last time he had been the one to make all the first moves.

"You sure," Jason spoke up through the kiss "you want this?"

Pecking his lips once, she pulled away from him and lightly leaned her forehead against his own, looking deep into his eyes and nodding her head slowly "Yes. I want this."

"I don't want to take advantage of you if you're feeling venerable after what happened today..." Jason got cut off by Carly.

"No I don't think that. I want this," Carly explained to him taking her hands out from under his shirt and slowly getting up from the couch "I've wanted this ever since that morning you left my apartment. I've wanted you back here with me. I'm not going to waste it."

Giving him one last look, she slowly wondered through into her bedroom, knowing that if he followed suit then he wanted her just as much as she wanted him and if he didn't, then maybe they were both on different wave lengths about where whatever they had going on between them was headed.

Seeing her walk off like and leave him with an ultimate him, he shrugged off the jacket he had been wearing and tugged off the lace up tan ankle boots he had also put on for the road over, clearly knowing what his answer was.

Running a finger through his hair, he got up from the couch and headed towards her bedroom, knowing that she was right. There was no time to waste. He had already lost her once before and he wasn't going to again. This was their chance to be together.

Coming through into her bedroom, he saw her stood by a set of draws in her room, where she had just then finished shutting the curtains and was pulling off the tights she had been wearing that day to work under her dress.

Seeing him enter the room to join her, a shy happy smile grew on her face and it wasn't long before they met each other in the middle of the room. Their lips recconted almost immediately, his hands travelled up her back and up to the nape of her neck whilst she began to take off the 3/4 length sleeve grey tonal t-shirt he was wearing.

Once the item of clothing was off his body and her fingers lightly began to grace over his skin for the second time that night, Jason moaned softly and quickly unzipped the back of the black dress she was wearing, before he laid her gently down on the bed and pulled the material off her body wanting to see her properly.

Carly stared up at him through her eyelashes, feeling like the situation they were in was just like that night when he had come for their much needed goodbye, only this time Jason stood in front of her underwear covered body in amazement at how he had got so lucky instead of feeling like this was his only chance and this Carly was timidly looking back at him feeling the exact way he was, so forever grateful to have him there with her instead of feeling nervous like she had that night.

Grinning madly at her, he lowered his head and planted light kisses upon her neck down towards her collarbones, hearing light sighs escape her lips at the touch of him on her skin. He always knew that was were she was most sensitive and still was by the reaction he was getting from her.

Whilst he continued to cover her skin in kisses, her hands went to the button on his jeans and she fumbled to undo them because of how good he was making her feel. He always made her feel good, whether was physically or mentally, Jason always had some trick up his sleeve to make her forget whatever had been on her mind and focus on what was really happening in the moment.

And for both of them in that moment, the passion and intimacy they were experiencing, they didn't want it to end.

* * *

Jason woke up earlier than Carly that following morning. The both of them had crashed into a long sleep after the night of passion they went through with each other. His arms was draped over her stomach comfortingly, the back of her body was closely up against his and his head was close to her shoulder, his eyes peeped over to look at her still sleeping face, her chest moving up and down slowly as she continued to sleep.

Smiling at the sight of her peacefully sleeping, he gently removed his arm from around his body and gently slipped himself out of the bed, not wanting to wake her up and ruin the surprise he had thought of that morning when he had first woken up. He was going to let her know how grateful he was for last night and for so far not kicking him out her place.

Quietly he tip toed round the bed and picked up his boxers from last night, before he grabbed his jeans and threw on his t-shirt too. Going through into the kitchen, he pulled the door to the bedroom to, so he wouldn't disturb her and went over to the fridge and cupboards to check out what he could make her for breakfast since she never ate last night.

Half an hour had passed since Jason gotten up and started to make breakfast for Carly, he had just finished flipping the last pancake, when he heard the sound of movement in the other room and the sound of the toilet flusher going, signalling that someone was now awake and was probably wondering where the hell he was.

Quickly he turned off the hob he was using and laid the pancake down onto a plate on a tray with the other two average sized pancakes, beside a glass of orange juice and a mixture of toppings for her pancakes. He really hoped she still liked pancakes and would be grateful for this gesture.

Also he hoped that she wasn't regretting last night, like she had the last time they had woken up to each other only a few weeks ago now. He really wanted things to work out between them because he felt like they deserved a shot at least, since three years ago or so they never had got the opportunity to actually try be together like they had both wanted.

Like Jason, Carly was hoping that Jason hadn't done a runner or was waiting for her to wake up so he could head on out. When she had woken up that morning to an empty bed, panic had washed through because for once she wasn't unaware of her surroundings, she was so sure she would have woken up beside him and they would have talked about last night.

Her panic had slightly subsided when she had smelt food coming from the kitchen area and the sound of kitchen utensils being moved around, a glimmer of hope that wiped that panic out of her system and an excited yet nervous feeling grew in the bottom of her stomach.

After slipping on some new underwear and her pyjama top, she wrapped her satin robe around her body and left the bathroom, making her way towards the kitchen to check out what was going on and to see if what happened last night was not one of regrets.

Pulling open the door, she was welcomed to the sight of Jason stood beside the coffee table in the centre of the living room, a tray with what she could only presume was her breakfast was perched upon it and he shone a warm smile in her direction.

"Wow," Carly gasped laughing lightly at the fact that Jason had cooked her breakfast "Is this for me?"

"Of course." Jason told her as she came over to check out what was on the tray and see him.

"Wow," She said again, still in such shock about what Jason had done that for her, she had never imagined he would do this for her and her eyes widened more when she saw pancakes sat on the plate, her favourite breakfast food and one she always use to cook them when they were hungover "Thank you so much. You didn't have to do this though."

"No I wanted to do it," He replied with a charming smile on his face "Now sit back, tuck into your food and let me know how good my cooking skills are."

Laughing at his comment, she obliged and took a spot down on the couch. Carefully he picked up the tray and handed it to her, where she sat the object down on her lap and grabbed her cutlery off the tray, ready to cut a piece of pancake and make her judgement on how good his cooking was.

Taking a seat beside her, he watched her take a bit of the pancake and he folded his arms as he waited to hear her verdict on his cooking. He had never cooked for her before. It was something new about him that she had just learned. During the time they hadn't been in touch, he had learned to cook and be more independent, it was all part of his own recovery, very similar to how she got over her own problems by living in her own place away from home.

"This is actually really good," she told him as she finished her mouthful and began to spread some chocolate spread on top of the pancake, before adding some sprinkles and cutting another bite off, her stomach rumbling for more food "I could get use to this."

Smiling across at her pleased, he laid his arm around the back of the couch, just a few inches away from where her head was propped against and he allowed her to continue enjoying her breakfast that morning, happy that so far he hadn't been thrown out yet unlike the last morning they had woken up to each other.

"You can put the TV on if you want." She suggested pointing over to the remote control that was sat on the coffee table.

Bending over, he picked up the remote and found the on button to the TV, before he flicked it on and felt a guilty feeling wash over him, when he saw the news channel had just come off a commercial break and the screen went to a scene that was now live at Rosewood. It was enough for Carly to drop her cutlery down onto her plate in shock.

Outside a house in the town they lived in, the front yard was filled with cops and cop cars, news reporters and their vans, paramedics and ambulances, including a few members of the public that were stood behind police tape.

But it wasn't the scene what horrified them. Because in a place like Rosewood where the crime had been high ever since the Alison DiLaurentis missing persons case, a scene like that what was filled with cops, paramedics and by standers, it was normal and sometimes even a daily occurrence when a new piece of evidence was found.

However, it was the sight of the cop that was stepping up to do the press report that alerted both of their attentions. Detective Holbrook appeared on the screen, standing in front of a number of microphones that the news reporters were holding, wanting to get the top information to share the story across their stations.

The sight of Holbrook had been enough to make her feel slightly on edge and hurt by what happened yesterday. But it wasn't only that what she was feeling. In her mind, she began to wonder if Spencer's arrest had been made early and this was what it was all about. She thought she would have time to try help the girl, but after not hearing back from Spencer all day after leaving countless calls and messages, as well as what happened with Holbrook, maybe the worst had already happened.

Jason was then about to reach hit the 'off' button again on the TV, when Carly laid her hand on his arm and stopped him from doing so. She had to hear what this was about. She was on the case and she had to know, because it was more than likely she was't going to find out any other way since Holbrook wanted her off the force and according to him, Tanner was suspicious of her.

Holbrook looked at the reporters in front of him and began to announce the information they had gathered "The investigation is ongoing, but we have ruled this a hommicide. Although we did not find a body, the amount of blood in the house would indicate that the victims wounds were fatal. Mona Vanderwall was murdered."

Glancing over at Carly in shock to hear the news, Carly felt her jaw drop slightly and she also glanced over at Jason in horror at what had just been announced. Slowly taking the remote off of him, this time she was the one to shut off the TV and lay the remote back down on the table.

"This is getting worse, isn't it?" Jason said as Carly suddenly lost her appetite and laid the tray of pancakes onto the table.

"I'm shocked. I-I didn't expect that." Carly replied still trying to figure out whatever the hell could have happened.

She didn't know an awful lot about Mona. Only what she had read in the case file and how she had been set to Radley for various reasons. But she knew that she had some part to play in the whole Alison case since the two girls hated one another. Carly was even beginning to think that Alison really might have had something to do with this. But she would never tell Jason her suspicions, not when they were finally on good terms.

"This town is always full of surprises," Jason began shaking his head and turning to look at her "you're really brave putting yourself on the team."

"I think you're just as brave for being involved with it all." Carly replied looking over at him and referring to the fact Jason was actually Alison's brother.

"I kind of don't have a choice," Jason shrugged leaning across and hooking a strand of hair behind her ear "but I do have a choice when it comes to protecting you."

"What does that mean?" She asked him interestedly, taking her hand in his and linking their fingers together.

"I want to protect you from this crazy world we live in. You might be on the team, but it still makes me worried that you could get caught up in this." He admitted to her with a concerned tone in his voice.

"You don't have to worry about me, Jay," She assured him squeezing his hand lightly "I can manage."

"Can you?" He asked unsure he liked the idea of her being in Rosewood by herself after all "Really? Because after last night with Holbrook..."

"That was not one of my finer moments..." She sighed and ran her fingers over her face, before looking back at him and playfully biting her lip, an idea popping into her head and a mischievous grin followed onto her face "If you're so uncertain about me being here alone, then why don't you use my apartment as your getaway?"

"My getaway?" Jason asked confused and raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, so whenever you're in town and you don't want to be at your house, you can come here and stay with me, keep me company and I guess protect me. And if you ever want people to think your out of town, you can also come here to hide out and anyway from all the drama. No more wasting your money on hotels, because Carly's apartment is free of charge." Carly suggested to him with a smile.

"Are you serious?" He replied surprised that this girl was so eager to get him to stay around this time and would actually want to try things properly between the two of them so soon. He didn't want her to just make any old decision now. He had to make sure she was sure and that she wouldn't regret it. Because it was a big risk.

"Yes."

"I'll only agree if you're a hundred percentage sure you want this, Carly. I'm not going to say yes and then you call me later to tell me you regret it."

Shaking her head, she turned her body to face him more and took his hands in her own "Everything that's happened in this town since I've been away and now I'm back, I've realised that time is so short. There's no point wasting it if there's something you want to do. And for me Jason, I really want to be with you and try to see if things can work out between us. I already wasted three years of my life wondering how you were and how things could have been. So now we're close again, I want to waste no more time of putting things off. I want us to try, Jason."

Smiling across at her warmly at her words, he nodded his head in agreement and gave her answer "Ok. Deal. We'll try, roomie."

After Jason had helped Carly finish off the rest of the breakfast he had cooked for her that morning and they had watched some TV, Carly had took a shower, changed in to some clothes for the day, did her hair and make-up, as well as she responded to some emails whilst Jason was in the shower.

They were both now ready to head out for the rest of the day. Jason was heading back to his hotel in the main centre of Philly and Carly was going out for some lunch, before hitting the mall and the local bakery to pick up some treats for the thanksgiving dinner her Dad had invited her to.

As Carly slipped her feet into her converse and tucked the laces in, she stood back up straight and faced Jason who was stood by the door, only inches from where she was waiting for the both of them to leave, which so happened to be together and if they were lucky unnoticed too.

"You ready to go?" Jason asked her as she adjusted her bag strap on her shoulder.

"Yes, just one sec," she told him reaching up onto her key hook, where she grabbed her own keys and took one of her spare keys to her apartment off one of the hooks, passing it over to him with a small smile "Here you go."

Jason gently took the key from her grasp and smirked across at her "What's this for?"

"Acess in and out of my apartment, you still want to stay with me, right?" She asked him with hopeful eyes that he hadn't already changed his mind.

"Of course I do, I'm just surprised you're already giving me my own key." Jason chuckled, as Carly slipped past him and began to unlock the door so they could step out.

"You earned it." Carly smirked up at him.

"I did, did I?" He grinned back at her mischievously "All it took was sex and cooking you breakfast."

"Oi, knock it off." Carly playfully hit him across the chest and couldn't help but break out into a shy giggle at the reminder of their actions last night.

"Nah but seriously," Jason's laughter died down as he stared down at her "I am really happy to be trying with you, Carl's."

"Me too," She answered, before bending up and pecking his lips once "You should really get going, get all your work and hotel stuff sorted out, I have a few errands to run also."

"Sure, I'll call you when I'm on my way back to town tomorrow morning." Jason informed her as Carly pulled open the door and the two stepped out into the hallway, whilst she continued to lock up.

"Ok. I look forward to it." She beamed.

Smiling down at her once again, their lips connected in a slow and gentle kiss, before they broke apart and Carly headed down the stairs, making sure that she left a few minutes before he did, to avoid anyone suspecting anything if they happened to be passing by or if -A or Alison or whoever the hell this person was who had it in for her, would be able to see what was going on between the two.

Once Carly had hopped inside her car and accelerated away from her apartment, she headed to the Brew to grab some coffee and her usual toastie order. As she drove through the town, she couldn't help but notice the extra amount of cops and cop cars circling the neighbourhood and she could only presume it was because of Mona Vanderwall's death.

When Jason had been in the shower, Carly had gone through her emails and for once someone had actually informed her of what was going on regarding the case, as well as what significance Mona's death had to Alison's case. There was possible links and Carly was already looking forward to get back to work to solve the crime more in depth now, since she was back in Tanner's good books.

Pulling up outside the Brew, she jumped out of her car and with her bag on her shoulder, she made her way inside the building and her eyes instantly drew over to the four most talked about girl's in Rosewood, excluding Alison. The three girl's were consoling a distraught Hanna, who Carly could only presume was upset from the death of Mona, after knowing that the two had been close friends sometime ago and had sort of rekindle recently.

Part of her wanted to go over to them and give them her kindest regards. She couldn't imagine how it must have felt to lose a friend. But deep down she knew it wasn't right for her in her position to get involved with the girls more than she already was, even now when she had taken a huge risk by starting fresh with Jason.

Also there was the fact that Spencer had never gotten back to Carly yesterday, after she had tried to help her a few days ago and also tried to warn her yesterday. There was nothing more she could do if the teenager didn't want her help no more.

Rolling her eyes away from them, she approached the counter and made her usual order to the barrister, who then told her to wait to the side till her order was ready. Obliging, she wondered over to stand somewhat near the back and her eyes met with a familiar face she hadn't seen in a few days.

"Toby!" Carly greeted the guy and for the first time remembered that the poor guy had been in a car accident not that long ago, the whole reason why he wasn't able to start at the station as soon as the other new cops, she had read the news whilst working for Tanner's assistant and it all made sense now as she saw him in a cast and wheel chair.

"Hey, Carly." Toby replied with a sweet smile.

"God. I am so sorry. I heard about the accident. It sucks you can't start sooner at the station, I was looking forward to having a familiar face around the place." Carly told him sincerely.

"It really does suck," He shrugged his shoulders "But I guess I get a little while longer to prepare myself for the craziness."

"Oh yeah. You're going to need to be ready." Carly half joked with a slight light laugh.

Before Toby had the chance to reply to the girl, the Brew doors swung open forcefully and in came Holbrook followed by a couple of cops. Carly felt her heart begin to pound to see the guy again after what happened yesterday, but it wasn't only the reason why she was so fearful to see him. As soon as she saw him march over to Spencer, she knew the real reason why the Detective was making an appearance.

"Spencer Hastings," Holbrook called alerting the teenagers attention and the rest of the girls also turned to look over at him "you're under arrest for the murder of Bethany Young."

"No... I-i-i didn't do this," Spencer cried at the three cops who were now putting her in hand cuffs. Carly felt Toby's eyes glance up at her and then back towards his girlfriend in horror at what was happening, just as Spencer looked back at him worriedly and Carly stood frozen unsure of what to even do, she felt guilty about the whole thing "Toby!"

The other Liars began to frantically look back and fourth between there friend and the cops, confusion and fear evident on their faces at what was happening and coud happen to her friend because of this. Holbrook talked over the girls, explaining the usual arrest procedure that anyone and everyone knew, whether or not they had been arrested before, it was law to recite the words when making an arrest.

"Spencer!" Toby yelled across at her, as he began to watch her get dragged towards the exit of the Brew.

"Toby!" The girl called again, before she was being pushed out the doors and outside.

"I'll call your parents." Hanna yelled across the Brew at her.

"We'll get you out." They all shouted in unison.

As the doors flung shut, all of their eyes instantly drew over to Carly and felt herself drop her head low in guilt about what had just happened. Somehow she knew she was somehow going to get the blame for what just happened to Spencer.

But reality was, she had no control over the matter.

* * *

 **Author note:** **Hello everyone! We've reached part 30. I hope you have enjoyed reading it.**

 **Soo... JASON'S FINALLY BACK! I hope it lived up to everything you were hoping for. Now he's back. He's not going anywhere. Trust me. I'm sorry it took so long but I really wanted to try follow in the shows storyline and not rush too much into things, which probably now is going to sound like I've totally contradicted myself because of what happened in this part. But it's been three whole years. They have the time now. There's no point wasting it.**

 **A massive thank you to everyone who has review** **ed** **. I reached 100+ reviews. Thank you so so so much. That means the world to me and is such an achievement to little old me. So thank you to every single one of you for making me so happy.**

 **Also thanks to Rhatch89, Stilinski-McCallBros, nico229, LiLuLo12 for reviewing the last part. It's always so lovely to read your reviews. Thank you to those who have been reading and liking it so far, as well as anyone who has favourited or followed since the last part.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed Jason's return and this seriously long chapter. I hope it was worth the read.**

 **Feel free to leave a review if you wish to.**

 **Thanks so much,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	31. Sloppy Seconds

**Sloppy Seconds**

The week's since thanksgiving seemed to have flown by for the residents in Rosewood and for Carly in particular, her life had been non-stop within the past few weeks. Since the tragic homicide of Mona Vanderall, the station had been more crazy than ever and for Carly who was just starting out in this world of law, she was really beginning to see how much pressure and stress the police force was under.

Her days and weeks consisted of the same routine day in and day out. She had finished running her errands for Tanner's assistant, the week after thanksgiving week. After that, she was moved back on to more of her usual work, which involved a lot more stricter deadlines and a higher work load than what she had been use to.

When she was out of the office, she was accompanying Tanner on investigations and questionings. She was happy that was back on the investigating side of things, rather than being stuck in the office all day unaware of what was going on in the cases that had grown bigger and she had become more involved with.

Because of this, it meant her time around Detective Holbrook was limited. Somehow, it was like he was avoiding her just as much as she was trying to stay away from him. When she was out of the office and would arrive back, there had been clear evidence of him having been in the office and made sure he had left before she had gotten back. The only time when they happened to be together in the same room, it had not lasted much longer than twenty minutes, with either Tanner calling for Holbrook's assistance or Carly's involvement with something outside.

It made her work a lot easier than she had imagined it could have went after what happened the day before thanksgiving with the whole tape and threat situation. Thankfully, she had began to grow in confidence that she would not let Holbrook tear her down and she knew that if the guy was avoiding her too, then she had done enough for him to not bark up her tree ever again. In all honesty, it had probably made her want the job than she already did before.

As for when Carly came home from work, she was either cooking dinner for herself or sometimes for Jason also when he was in town and coming home from work, to then sitting down in front of the TV finishing off work, replying back to emails or when she had time the time to hanging out with Jason at her apartment for when he had decided to come stay with her.

On her days off, she rarely felt like she had the time to just chill out and enjoy herself. If she wasn't doing work from home, she was off out Christmas shopping or food shopping, visiting her Dad, catching up with Brooke and doing chores around the house. That left the only spare time she ever had, to hang out with Jason when he was in town and that was usually in the evenings when he got back from work.

So far things between them had been going relatively smoothly. He would come over in the evenings to have dinner with her, they would then both sit down with their laptops doing some last minute work, then they would either watch some TV on the couch cuddled up or head straight to bed to just sit and chat till they fell asleep. Sometimes they had the opportunity to progress things further, like any normal couple would, but they still hadn't even decided if they were a couple and they were far from normal either of them with the things they had been through in the past few years.

Something's between them were still left unsaid and not touched on. For them right now, they felt like it was better that way. Sometimes they dipped into what their lives had been like for the both of them after Alison went missing that day, but even then it was only brief and a sensitive subject that they didn't want to have to bring into their relationship just yet.

They wanted it to be full of positivity and enjoyment. They both just felt so lucky to be able to start over again and properly this time, without anyone interrupting or getting involved. So far, they had not told anyone about their involvement with one another and neither of them had even hinted to anyone else what could have been going on.

Carly should have probably felt guilty about keeping things from her Dad, Brooke and Melissa, who were all against her ever being close to Jason again. But she didn't see no harm in the matter. It was always about what they wanted and what they thought made her happy. But reality was, that Carly wanted Jason and he made her happy, so incredibly happy and she wasn't going to let anyone ruin that for the both of them this time.

If she should have been worried about anyone finding it out, it was Tanner. But so far, Tanner had been so busy working on the case to not even keep an eye on Carly or have any more supposed suspicions on the trainee Detective.

So for now, they were keeping themselves very private from the world, it was for the best.

That included tonight, the night of the Christmas Rosewood Ball that actually happened to be organised by the DiLaurentis family. Carly's Dad and her had been invited, by like always due to work commitments, John wasn't attending and had advised his daughter not to also. It was just like that day of Jessica DiLaurentis' funeral, when Carly's Dad had come over and suggested that she didn't attend because of a certain someone who might have been there.

This happened again. A couple of weeks after thanksgiving when John received the invite in the post and invited his daughter over for lunch one weekend to discuss the matter. He hadn't mentioned anything to her since the moment she walked in the day and he had waited until they had started eating to talk about the matter with her.

"So Carls..." John began looking across at her over the table they were situated in the dining room of the house, Carly sat at one end and John at the other end, some hot steaming lasagne in the middle of the table and their plates filled with delicious food in front of them, Carly had already tucked in and was looking back at her Dad whilst she ate "What else have you got planned for Christmas aside from dinner here?"

"Uh..." She finished off her mouthful, "I'm obviously heading to New York in the new year to stay with Brooke."

"You managed to get that sorted then?" John asked with a smile.

"Yeah, I spoke to Tanner and she allowed me the time off from work so that I could go. She said I deserve it after being thrown into the deep end on my first few months of working. But she said I have to keep up to date with what's going on, so I'm not out of the picture when I get back. The train tickets are booked and I leave in two weeks." Carly told him happily.

She was so excited to be going back to New York to stay with Brooke and celebrate New Years in one of the best places to do so. She was also so grateful Tanner was allowing her time off amongst the investigation.

"That's great, Carls, you're going to have such a great time," John told her laying down his cutlery on his plate, knowing he had to cut the small talk now and focus on the bigger reason he had invited her over "You haven't been invited to any Christmas parties then?"

"Christmas parties?" Carly raised her eyebrows up and shrugged her shoulders "I don't think so...I doubt work will have the time to throw one amongst everything going on."

"You haven't heard about the Rosewood Ball, then?" He asked her hopeful.

"Oh..." She said quietly, knowing that she had seen a few posters around town about the event, but hadn't though much about it or even realised who was throwing the event "I saw some stuff in town about it, I didn't really think much of it. Why? Are you going?"

"No..." John quickly replied, before laying his hands down onto his lap and twiddling his thumbs "I got an invite but I'm working, as always. I'm glad that you're not interested in going though..."

"I never said that..." Carly frowned back at him "I just haven't really thought about it, it sound's like it's invite only. Was it also addressed to me?"

"To you?" John chuckled nervously. He really didn't want to have to break it to her that she was also invited to the DiLaurentis' event. He wouldn't be there this time to support her and keep her away from one person in particular.

"Yeah?" Carly raised her brows up at her Dad suspiciously, becoming increasingly aware of his weird behaviour and like he was keeping something from her "Was I also invited?"

"Carls..."

"Dad, seriously, how many more times do we have to go over this?" Carly complained in annoyance at her Dad's still lack of trust with her "I'm going to be fine. I don't even want to go anywhere near the drink, let alone taste it. I'll stay far far far away from the drinks table."

It was true. Even after the night when she had been close to drinking the red wine and had then smashed the bottle, Carly had promised herself that she didn't even want to go anywhere any form of alcohol ever again. It was a massive wake up call on how she couldn't let the little things like that push her back. She had to go forward and upwards.

"It's not that I'm concerned about so much..." He trailed off, looking down at the table below him and over at her again worriedly.

"Then what is it?" Carly questioned him, suddenly losing her appetite to eat any more as she pushed her plate away and her Dad sighed loudly, instantly making her realise the real reason why he didn't want her to go "Does this have something to do with the DiLaurentis'?

"Maybe.." John shrugged.

It was all it took for Carly to realise that her Dad didn't want her going because the fact the DiLaurentis' were going to be there. At the time, she had no idea that they were hosting the actual event, until she received an invite at the station days after her conversation with her Dad, asking for her to come as a representative from the team, instead of as herself, a friend of the family.

But right now, Carly knew she had to assure her Dad that it would be ok, making sure she left out the minor detail that she had already gotten back in touch with Jason and that he was living in her apartment from time to time. She decided not to include that piece of information right now, when he was already overreacting about some Christmas Ball.

Shaking her head, she bit down on her bottom lip and leaned back slightly from the table, not knowing what she could do "Dad. You don't have anything to worry about."

"That family is toxic for you, Carly, especially the son, I won't be there to protect you or keep you away from him." Her Dad explained in an angered tone.

"You don't need to be my own personal body guard," Carly rolled her eyes at her Dad "We've been through this so many times, Dad. Why can't you just trust me to live my life?"

"I just don't want him anywhere near you. I don't want any of that family near you." John grumbled.

"Whatever, Dad," Carly breathed, taking a deep breathe in and trying to keep herself as calm as possible, knowing she couldn't get too angry because it would result in her saying something that she might regret, like the fact Jason was hardly ever not around her "I'm not going to argue with you about this, I'm old enough to make my own decisions. Now if you excuse me, I need to get some air."

And with that, she stood up from her chair, ignoring her Dad's frustrated and defeated expression on his face and she made her way out of the dining room, heading towards the kitchen where she could escape to the outside and cool off.

Since that day at her Dad's, Carly had made up her mind about going to the ball, after receiving another invite because she worked at the station and talking about it with Jason, she decided that she was going to go to show her support for the community and prove to her Dad she could cope just fine. Plus Jason would be there, even if it meant she couldn't acknowledge him in public, at least knowing he was there was some sort of comfort to her.

Just under ten minutes until the doors to the ball opened, Carly was stood in front of her mirror holding up two dresses that she had picked out a few days ago on her day off, where she had headed to a few boutiques in town to find the perfect dress. However, she had ended up with two perfect dresses, that she was so undecided in which one would be most appropriate for the night and what she felt comfortable in that night.

Holding them both up in front of the mirror, she titled her head to the side and rubbed her lips together, deep in though about what one looked the best against her in her reflection. But also she was unsure about whether was most appropriate for the event, was one too much and was one too little?

She really wished she had someone there to help her, someone like Brooke who always gave Carly the best opinions and was very good at helping her make her mind up.

Groaning to herself in annoyance, she threw the two dresses down on the end of the bed and allowed her body to follow suit down onto the mattress, not even worried that she was messing up the curls she had enhanced in the already natural waves in her hair. She really hated being a girl sometimes, these were the usual struggles every girl could relate to when it came to dressing for important events.

Suddenly the sound of the apartment door opening, alerted her eyes away from looking up at the ceiling and she propped herself up on her elbows, her eyes darting through to the doorway of her room and into the living space of her apartment, wondering who had now entered her place, the only person she could think of was her Dad or...

"Hey, Carls?" She heard Jason call from the other room, before he came round from the kitchen and saw her lying on her bed with the two dresses beside her.

"Jay," Carly smiled at him, surprised to see him and she sprung to her feet almost instantly, her eyes widening slightly when she saw him dressed in a suit, a sight she hadn't seen before, not even did she get a full view of him at his mother's funeral in a suit "What are you doing here?

"I thought I would swing by before the ball started to see you, since you said on your message that you were still getting ready," Jason told her with a sweet smile on his face, as she stood in front of him and their fingers linked together almost automatically "I thought it would be nice to see each other since I've been out of town the past couple of days."

It was true. He had been out of town the past couple of days for the business that included selling some apartments and rentals to clients out in Philly. Because of this, Carly hadn't seen Jason as he was staying in Philly for the time being, so he didn't have to keep driving backwards and forwards each day. But the time he had been a way, she had honestly really missed him and was excited that after the ball they would be able to spend the night together.

"I'm glad you're here." She smiled up at him, before leaning up and giving him a gentle peck on his lips.

Grinning back down at her knowing the feeling was mutual, his eyes rolled over to the two dresses laid out on the bed and he raised his eyebrows up at her "What's going on? You haven't chosen what dress you want to wear yet?"

"No," She groaned, unlinking their hands and wondering over to the two dresses "I have no idea what to wear. I like them both."

"This is something new I've never had to deal with before." Jason chuckled, coming over to join her and picking up the two dresses in his hands.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked interestedly.

"Just the Carly I knew just threw on whatever," He replied, causing her to laugh lightly at the reminder of how she really did not care back then and how much she cared about her appearance now, it was totally different and she knew exactly why she was so worried about what people thought about her "Now I've got to be the one to help you pick what to wear."

"I never asked you to help me." She smirked.

"I know, but you want me to, right?" Jason raised his brows up, his smile matching her own.

"Ok," She laughed, shaking her head amused by the whole situation and folding her arms across her chest jokingly "What one do you think I should wear?"

"Well, what one do you want to wear?"

Frowning at him in confusion, she answered him back "Jason? You're supposed to be helping me. This is the whole reason why I asked you to help."

"No you didn't," He smirked at her "You said you never asked for my help."

Knowing he was messing with her and trying to irritate her, she shook her head and bit down on her bottom lip, trying to hide her amusement and annoyance "Seriously? Jason? C'mon!"

"Ok," He gave in defeated, before looking between the two dresses, one of them was a off white, slightly nude chiffon skater dress that reached mid-thigh, it had a beading detail all over the dress, with a v-neck line and a slight upper half open back, whilst the other was a short sleeved, high neck pale blue body con dress, that came just above the knee, it had a lace detailing on the upper half of the dress and a plain skirt, he thought for a moment and then he handed one over to her "This one."

Looking down at the dress he had chosen, Carly rubbed her lips together and glanced back up at him unsure "I don't know..."

"I just made your decision for you, Carly, and you're still unsure?" He responded, knowing that there was something going on inside her head.

The past few weeks, he had noticed more things that were slightly different about her to what he once knew. For example, he noticed that she was a lot more of aware of her actions and the things she said. It was like in case she offended someone, was seen in the wrong light or put herself at risk from something.

It was expected that things were going to be different. She had really grown up within the past three years, really blossomed into a young woman and really had her head screwed on right. He was proud of how far she had come since the days of when he knew her properly. As much as he liked and cared about the old Carly, the new girl he was spending most of his time with the past few weeks, he had grown to like more and more, that he didn't even think it was possible to like someone as much as he did her. He had never felt this way about anyone or her for that matter.

And it felt good. But he wished that she would open up to him more. It was going to take time. Heck, he hadn't even hardly opened up to her about his alcohol and drug abuse over the years, which he felt like he had a lot more under control, especially knowing that he had a chance to be with her again and properly this time, as well as his rehab visits over the past few years, but he wasn't going to let his past mistakes ruin things for them a second time round.

He had the girl now and he wasn't letting her go.

"It's not that..." She mumbled, taking a seat down on the end of the bed and sighing.

"What is it then?" Jason asked confused by how she was acting. She never use to be so obsessed with how she looked.

Taking a seat down beside her, Jason nudged her with his elbow and got her to look at him, she shrugged her shoulders upon seeing his concerened face and spoke up at how she was really feeling "I don't know... I guess I just want people to have a positive opinion on me. This is my first proper outing in town since I was eighteen, since I was last here and I'm just worried people will think bad of me if I turn up looking a particular way."

Shaking his head in disagreement, he laid the dresses behind them and took hold of her hands in his own "Carly. You're beautiful. You don't have to worry about what other people think of you. You never use to, so why do you now?"

"I guess, because, I'm nervous, I don't want people to see me as the girl who just randomly got out of town one night for no apparent reason and then I just show up looking, I don't know, odd?"

"You think one of these dresses will make you look odd?"

"Not odd..." She shook her head, knowing that clearly wasn't the right word for it," I guess I just don't want people to think I left town for the reason I did, to get away from the drama and mess I had created."

"Carly." Jason sighed, unsure of what to say, since he could relate a lot to what she was saying, but also because he had been through this before with himself and he had learnt to not care what people think about him, he knew the real him and he knew what he had done wrong, he didn't need people to point it out for him.

Plus he knew what she meant regarding the mess and drama she had created, because it was the same mess and drama he was also thrown in to it and her Dad had forced her to get away from to stop the town finding out about what his daughter really did after hours.

"I know, I'm being a drama queen."

"No," Jason shook his head, a little laugh escaping his lips at her words, knowing it was best to keep her positive tonight, instead of dabbling into the past, because they both weren't 100% ready for it, "You're just nervous, I get it. But whatever you wear, you're going to look amazing. You always do. So now I'm going to ask you again, what dress do you want to wear?"

Blushing at his compliments, she flashed him a warm smile in regards, before looking behind at the two dresses and her hand instantly going over to the slightly more revealing one of the two, knowing that it had been what she wanted to wear all along, but had been too worried people would have been too judgemental about the amount of skin on show.

Seeing her pick the one she had wanted, he felt a smile form on his lips again and he hopped up off the bed, pulling his cell-phone out of his suit pocket as he did, checking over the time and realising it was probably time for him to head out "I should get going. I'll see you later though, you're going to be alright now?"

"I'll be fine," She nodded back at him, climbing up onto her feet and coming to stand in front of him as he slipped his phone away "Thank you for helping."

"I didn't do anything," Jason told her, looking down at her face in awe of how lucky he was to have her back in his life and be able to be in moments like this with her "You had already made the choice yourself."

"But if it wasn't for your guidance and reassurance, then I would probably still be sat here twiddling my thumbs." Carly replied.

Shaking his head amused, he brought his lips down to meet hers for a long gentle kiss, his hands cupping either side of her face, whilst her spare hand what wasn't holding the dress latched on to his chest where his tie was laying.

After a couple of moments, they broke apart and Carly flattened down his tie, before looking back up at him with a sweet smile on her face "You look handsome, by the way."

"You think so?" Jason raised his eyebrows up.

"Yes." She chuckled lightly, before she followed him out of the bedroom and over to the front door.

"Why thank you," He smirked at her, before he came to a halt in front of the door and pecked her cheek lightly "I can't wait to be with you properly tonight, but I'll see you soon, yeah?"

"Me too," She grinned back at him as she took hold of the door handle and opened it up for him, "See you later."

"Bye." He waved back, before he slipped out into the hall and made his way over to the stairs to head to the ball his family were throwing.

Watching him leave, she found herself sighing and leant the side of her head against the door, knowing that life seemed so much easier with him around, it was like the pieces just fell into place and he helped her think clearer. He really was so good to her and always had been. It was just such a shame no one else could see that.

Around twenty minutes later, Carly finally arrived at the Ice Ball the DiLaurentis' were hosting in the town for a charity Christmas event. Upon arrival at the ball, Carly was greeted by a few familiar faces that she hadn't seen in a while in town, most of them some of her Dad's friend's or neighbours who use to live down her street, all of them surprised yet happy to see her back in town.

This reassured her a lot that people were responding to her appearance positively, instead of the negative response she had been expecting, she really did have to stop over thinking so much. But with everything that had happened already since being back, it was expected for her to be a bit more on the edge about certain situations, especially with the whole Holbrook situation and the fact that she hadn't received a text from -A in weeks, which whole heartedly shocked her that it had suddenly stopped. But also it made her feel more paranoid that it wasn't over yet and there could be a threat any time soon.

Wondering her way through the crowds, she spotted a row of seating area towards one of the sides away from the dance floor area and just a few yards away from where the food and bar was. She had been talking to a few cops and a few of her old neighbours for the first hour of her arrival, but now she just wanted to have a sit down and just enjoy the atmosphere.

As she took a seat down, she felt like a pair of eyes were watching her and she turned her head slightly to the right hand side of her, a figure was lurking in the slight darkness of the ball but she could just about make out who it was, an uncontrollable smile falling onto her face when she saw him stood there alone.

She so badly wanted to run over to him and spend the night with him. But she couldn't. It would be way too risky, even if the lights were not present on where Jason was. There was cops all over the place and she really didn't want to have to out her secret in front of the whole town at the Christmas event of the year. It wasn't her scene to make her life a drama. Plus she kind of enjoyed the whole sneaking around with Jason, it was fun and meant she could live her life the way she wanted.

Looking back around, she checked if the coast was clear, before she gave him a slight wave and bit down on her bottom lip excitedly. Jason was just moments away from waving back at her and motioning for her to get her phone out, when someone came to sit down beside Carly, alerting both their attentions off each other and onto the figure now sat beside the young woman.

When Jason saw the person who had now sat down beside Carly, he took a step backwards, stepping more into the darkness and a puzzled feeling came over him as to why Spencer was wanting to speak to Carly. He knew that they had some involvement with one another due to Melissa, but he didn't know they were still on some form of talking terms. It worried him.

Carly frowned when she saw the teenager that only a couple of weeks ago got arrested by Holbrook in the middle of the Brew was sat beside her, a nervous look on their face and Carly couldn't help but feel uncomfortable that Spencer had come to speak to her out in the open like this after everything.

"Hey Carly." Spencer spoke up awkwardly, knowing that Carly probably didn't want to talk to her due to her position on the police force, but also due to the fact Spencer ignored the woman's help.

"Spencer." Carly replied in a light tone.

"I'm surprised to see you here." Spencer told her, both of the girl's looking around the room rather than on each other.

"Well I'm just supporting the community," Carly informed her with a tight smile, "It's my job after all."

"Of course," Spencer nodded back, before she quickly glanced around, making sure that no cops were looking in their direction, before she turned her body and head towards the woman next to her with a guilty expression "I'm sorry for not getting back to you that day."

"No, no, it's fine," Carly brushed it off, not wanting to make a fuss, especially not here, "I get it. You have your friends. You don't need my help."

"No, I do. I really do. But I didn't want you to put yourself at risk for me," Spencer began to explain to her, feeling bad about all of this and that she was bringing Carly into the situation more than she wanted "I should have called you back, I know I should have and I'm sorry that I didn't. Maybe things would have been different. But we both know Tanner has had it in for me and my friends for long enough, something like this was bound to happen."

"You're right," Carly nodded, finally looking back at Spencer for the first time since she had sat down beside her, "But I made a promise to Melissa that I would do whatever it takes to protect you."

"Yeah she made you promise that so she didn't have to deal with the dirty work of what she did," Spencer shook her head in annoyance at her older sister's action "you don't have to protect me any more for her sake."

"Why not?" Carly asked confused.

Had she missed something?

"Because she should be here doing that, not getting her friend to do it for her. You have a job to do and it's certainly doesn't involve protecting me." Spencer told her.

"I know you're innocent, Spencer," Carly assured her with a small smile, "I know all of you girls are innocent in this mess," She looked over at the other teenagers in Spencer's friendship circle, who were busy dancing with their loved ones, then back on Spencer with a look "But I'm not so sure about Alison."

"You and me both." Spencer returned the look.

Carly honestly did believe that the girl's were innocent in all of the drama and mess. She didn't believe that they could truly kill someone or have any intention of killing anybody. Of course, she had overheard the other week Aria talking to Spencer in Aria's bedroom, about something to do with self-defence, but she couldn't seem to understand what that was all about and didn't really suspect them killing anyone on purpose or because of what Alison wanted them to do.

Before Carly could even get the chance of asking more about Alison and what she had overheard that day, the music that was playing suddenly changed and the spot lights that had been featured on the dance floor, moved over to the top of the stairs that lead the way in and out of the ice ball, everyone began to move over to the bottom of the stars to see the arrival of the DiLaurentis' youngest child and her new friends.

Carly and Spencer slowly rose to their feet, coming over to join everybody at the area below the bottom of the stairs, Carly made sure she kept to the back to keep her distance from the other girl's in case the other cops suspected anything as Spencer joined her friends and she also wanted to make sure Alison wouldn't spot her in the crowd. She couldn't have the girl rubbing it in her face more and more about her past, even when the -A messages had gone quiet.

Once Alison had descended down the stairs, she wondered over to a couple of people, greeting them and sparking up conversation, whilst some of her new friends kept with her and other headed off on their own accords, which quickly made the crowd disperse into their own directions.

Spinning round on her heel, she headed back over to the seating area she had been originally sat at and brought her phone out from her purse. Her eyes wondered over to where Jason had been originally standing before Spencer had come up to her. However, she found herself disappointed when he was no longer anywhere to be seen and it left her no choice than to sit back down.

Typing out a message to Jason, she quickly hit the send button and held her phone tightly in her lap, just waiting for a reply from him and her eyes darted round the room in the meantime, looking for any suspicious behaviour from Alison, the girls or anyone for that matter, as well as any signs of Jason in the room.

After a good ten minutes had past, she still was sitting there with no response from him and a growing uneasy feeling in her stomach, just hoping that he was ok and that everything was fine. But that wasn't the only thing that was making her feel uncomfortable, it was the conversation that she could see going on across the room, between one of her least favourite people and one of her favourite people.

Frowning at the sight of the two talking and the behaviour coming from one of them in particular, Carly rose to her feet and slipped her phone away into her purse, wanting to break up this conversation before it had really started because she didn't want one of them getting the other in any more trouble.

She knew what their game was and what they were doing. From her own experience and how much she had been monitoring them over the past few weeks, she knew that their intentions towards Aria was nowhere near good. She couldn't have them ruin the teenagers life any more than it had been by the Rosewood cops. She was going to put a stop to it.

"Aria," Carly greeted her with a tight smile, trying her best to act calm and not let her true feelings show about how she felt that the young teenager was talking to the other Detective, before she turned her head to look at him "Gabe."

"Miss Monroe." He smirked back mischievously, knowing that this was their first proper communication in weeks, since the incident that evening in their office.

Aria glanced between the two Detectives with a puzzled expression on her face, clearly feeling the awkward and thick tension that was present between the two cops, "What are you up to?" Carly asked him with raised brows.

"Just talking to Aria," Gabe replied, "showing my support for the community, aren't I, Aria?"

"Uh..." Aria muttered looking back at Carly uncertain.

Flashing her a reassuring look, she turned her body slightly to the teenager "Why don't you go grab us some drinks?"

"Sure." Aria replied, before nodding her head and quickly wondering off in the opposite direction, away from Holbrook and the tension that was going on between him and her old friend.

"Seriously..." Carly muttered under her breath, once Aria was out of sight and she had turned to face Holbrook completely with a frustrated look on her face.

"What, Miss Monroe?" Holbrook asked her, pretending to be confused at her reaction to him talking to the girl she considered a little sister "I'm here to show my support for the town. Unlike yourself..."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She asked him.

"Well you're clearly not here for the community, are you?" He flashed a smug grin her way, his eyes glancing around the many faces in the room and once he couldn't see who he wanted to find, he looked back at her and continued on "You've come here to show support for your boyfriend, since his family are holding this whole thing."

Knowing who he was referring to, Carly rolled her eyes in annoyance and crossed her arms over her chest "Wow. You're still strung on that idea, huh?"

"Of course I am, Miss Monroe," Gabe chuckled lightly "Because we both know it's true."

Not wanting to play into his games, she shook her head at him in amusement at his obsession with her involvement with the older DiLaurentis son, "Let's cut the crap, Gabe. We both know why you're really here and it's clearly not for the community. Maybe it has something to do with the fact you can't actually stop yourself from harassing teenage girls."

"I have no idea what you're on about, Miss Monroe," He kept the same smug look on his face, the same look he had on there since the moment she came over to break up the conversation with Aria and it was already driving her insane, "But if we're on the subject of harassing teenage girls, didn't Jason do the exact same thing to you?"

Feeling the anger bubbling more and more inside her, she felt herself taking a deep breath in and she was just moments away from giving him a piece of her mind, when he stepped closer to her, making the gap that was between them even smaller and the pounding in her heart grew.

"Careful, Miss Monroe," Holbrook commented on her behaviour, his eyes never leaving hers and his breath tickling her face, which caused her to feel more uncomfortable and the anxiety she hadn't felt since when he had threatened her, returned all over again "Just remember your position on this force."

Giving her one last long smirk, he slowly brushed past her and headed off to go talk to some cops from the team, knowing that he would have struck a cord with her that would be enough to make her think twice about crossing him again. He had been waiting to do that since the last time they had spoken, that evening in the office when he had threatened her the first time and she had somehow managed to threaten him back. Gabe had been wanting to get his own back and tonight was just the start of it all.

Feeling her anxiety rising, she found her breathing becoming a lot heavier than usual and all she could think about was how bad she needed to get out of the room, out of the building and go back home to her safe haven, away from Holbrook and his continued threats towards her. She had thought it had stopped. But maybe she was wrong, this was clearly just the beginning and she would have to try a lot harder to make him stop.

Pulling her cell phone back out her purse, she noticed Jason had finally replied to her text, but all her mind could now concentrate on now was getting out of this place and bringing Jason with her. Typing out a quick messages to him, explaining that she needed to go home and if he could come meet her out the back somewhere, so then they could get out of this place.

Wondering her way through the crowds of people, she pushed her way through a back door that lead out to a back way, a long alley way that lead to the street and Carly propped herself up against the wall under a light that was beside the door, trying to steady her breathing and calm herself down before Jason met her.

She couldn't have him finding out about the damage her past had done to her, as well as how badly she had just then dealt with Holbrook's threat, especially when she had promised she him she could cope just fine with him.

Running her hands over her face in distress, she shut her eyes and took a deep breath in, counting up to five in her head and then exhaling for the other five, a method she had learnt from her therapist back in New York for moments when her panic got the better of her.

Suddenly the sound of foot steps hitting against the concrete below, alerted her attention away from her counting and breathing exercise. Her eyes flashed open, her hands slowly peeled themselves off her face and back down her sides, her clutch purse still tightly in her hands as the figure came from the shadows to greet her.

"Well, well, well," The woman began, a smirk playing on their lips, their eyes rolling from head to toe on the girl's body, that was the only thing lit up amongst the darkness due to the out door light beside the back door of the building "There's a face I haven't seen in a while."

The figure came to a halt just inches away from her, on the opposite side of the wall, the light now present on their own body, meaning Carly could now clearly make out who the person was who had come from the darkness, causing a shocked and slightly scared expression to fall on her face to see the person again, a person who had been on the police's radar for so long since she left town the same night Carly had come back.

"Cece."

"Monroe. You've really grown up, haven't you?" Cece told her, with an awfully too sweet smile, that she knew Alison had gotten from her, "I'm not going to lie, I was a little surprised when Ali told me that you were back in town. I never thought you would come back after what happened that day."

"Yeah well it was always my intention to come back to the place I grew up after college." She told her, trying to keep her cool in front of the older girl, because she wasn't some teenager any more, she was a woman now and she had learnt to stick up for herself.

"Of course, I've always remembered your dream," Cece replied, "How is that working out for you? You've clearly finished college now..."

"Yeah," She confirmed, "I work at the station now."

Why was Cece acting so sweet? It actually made Carly feel slightly sick and that clearly wasn't from the anxiety.

"A cop," Cece smirked, folding her arms and nodding her head, "I'm impressed, little Miss Monroe."

"Trainee Detective actually." Carly corrected her, ignoring the choice of nick name Cece decided to stick with after all these years.

"I heard you're working on Alison's case."

"You heard right." Carly shone her a tight smile.

"That must be hard, mustn't it?" Cece asked with raised brows and a face that screamed mischief "Working on Alison's case, trying to ignore the fact that you're also involved with this, even though the cops seem to have no idea of your existence all those years ago."

"Why would they need to know I was around?" Carly asked her smartly, standing up straight and crossing her arms over her chest, trying to match Cece's strong and confident look "I never did anything wrong."

"Maybe nothing against the court of law..." Cece began, her smug look was quickly replaced with more of a bitter one "But maybe boyfriend stealing should become a crime?"

Whilst all of this was undergoing between the two girls, neither of them had realised that the guy that had brought so much friction between Cece and Carly, as well as Alison being Cece's back up most of the time, was actually stood crouched behind a row of dust carts towards the top end of the alley, after receiving Carly's text and heading out the front to go meet her round the back.

Upon hearing the familiar voice of Carly and his ex-girlfriend, Cece, Jason had frozen on the spot and found himself not wanting to get involved. It would clearly cause more trouble than good. Also it would raise suspicion as to why Jason was coming to Carly's rescues after all this time, since to outsiders it appeared that Jason and Carly had nothing to do with each other any more. No one really knew they were in contact. If Cece found out they were, she would make it her goal to rat the two of them out as some sort of revenge for Jason moving on to Carly all those years ago.

All he could was helplessly look on between the two. Hoping that Cece would have her say without causing any actual physical harm and then bugger off back into the party where she would no doubt go be with Alison. Then he could go take Carly home and be with her for the rest of the night like they had planned.

Carly fell silent for a moment, unsure of how to respond to that since it wasn't something she could easily talk about when to Cece's knowledge, Jason and her hadn't spoken since Labour day that year.

Or so she thought...

Stepping forward, Cece unfolded her arms and laid her hand on one of the younger woman's shoulders, she squeezed it tightly before breaking the silence "I hope you enjoy my sloppy seconds."

Before Carly had the chance to respond to the other girl's accusations, Cece stepped away from her and pulled open the back door, making her way back into the ball and leaving Carly on her own to allow what Cece had said to her sink in properly.

Did Cece know that there was something going on between Carly and Jason again?

Feeling the fear rise within her about what the girl could do with what she knew about Jason and her, she found her breathing become erratic again and it wasn't long before her chest tightened at the horror of how risky this whole situation actually was by being with Jason. She just wished there was some way to get Cece to shut up. But there wasn't.

She couldn't go to the police and stop Cece from leaving town again. Because the truth was, Cece would use the information she had on Carly about her past and being around that year, to cause more drama and problems for Carly for being successful in her job. If Tanner found out what Cece knew about Carly, then there would be no chance of the trainee Detective keeping her job on the force.

There was nothing she could do. All she could hope for was that Cece wouldn't say anything to anyone. Maybe Carly was just jumping to a conclusion about what she had said, maybe she had thought too much into it. Cece could have just been speculating about the two, since they were both now in town and they could have crossed paths a few times, maybe she was just suggesting that they could have a chance together now.

Because in reality, there was no way Cece could have known they were doing what they were doing now, because they had been so careful and secretive about it all. There was no way Cece could have found out just from being back in town that night. She hoped the girl was just passing through and wouldn't be returning any time soon.

The sound of foot steps coming from where Cece had come from just minutes before, alerted Carly away from her thoughts and onto the one person she had been hoping to see the whole night. When their face emerged from the shadows, she could see they looked concerned about her and all she wanted to do now was let him hold her.

"Hey," He spoke softly, coming to stand in front of her, where she instantly lowered her head, trying to hide how she was really feeling and how much her anxiety was beating her up inside "I'm so sorry."

Ignoring his apology, knowing he had nothing to really be sorry for since none of this was his fault, he hadn't asked Cece to come talk to her that night or steer things up for the two of them. Instead, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his lower stomach, pulling him into her and burring her face into his chest, wanting to block out the world around her even if it was only for a moment.

And all Jason could do again, was wrap his arms around her shoulders and let her know that he was there for her.

* * *

 **Author note: Hello everyone! I hope you enjoyed reading this part and you're liking the story so far.**

 **Special thanks to RHatch89, LiLuLo12 and Elliebelle4444 for reviewing the last part. Also thanks to any new readers, followers or anyone who has favourited since the last part.**

 **What are we all thinking about the new episode's of PLL? Are we liking the time jump? I'm loving it so far. I really hope Jason makes an appearance sometime soon though. I miss him haha.**

 **I've got so much planned for this story. I really cannot wait to share it all. I even have BIG ideas for the time jump that I'm really hoping I will get to share with you guys :)**

 **I'd love to hear from you.**

 **Many thanks,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	32. Panic Mouth

**Panic Mouth:**

Fumbling with the keys in her already shakey hands, Carly managed to unlock the door and push it open, stepping through into her apartment, Jason quickly following behind her, a concerned expression present on his face, that hadn't left since her had come to comfort Carly after her spat with Cece.

The older girl laid her clutch and keys down onto the kitchen table, before she wondered over to the kitchen space, her hands gripping onto the work surface and her back was hunched to Jason. Her eyes tightly shut, her breathing was heavy, her throat was like she was being strangled and the pounding in her head was matching the crazy beating of her heart.

She had no had attack like this in at least over a year. The one a few weeks back, the day before thanksgiving when she had returned back to her apartment flustered and not thinking straight after her run in with Holbrook at the station, was nothing like the one she was experiencing now. She had no idea why it was so bad. But she knew it had to do with what Cece had struck within her.

With Holbrook, he only knew the things he did about her past from other people or assumptions he made. However with Cece, the older girl had lived through that part of Carly's life with her. It scared her a lot more to see Cece back in town, for the first time since she had got back from college than it did to be threatened by Holbrook.

Somehow some part within her knew that there was only so far Holbrook could go. He might have been her boss in some ways and could suggest kicking her off the team if he decided to tell Tanner about what he knew about her. But over the past few weeks, Carly had grown to believe that Tanner had her own suspicions of Holbrook. She couldn't tell that the Lieutenant didn't trust him 100%.

On the other hand, Carly knew how far Cece would go. She had seen it with her own two eyes many times just how far Cece, as well as Alison would go to get what they wanted. She already had her suspicions that Alison was -A and if Cece was also involved in Alison's little game of getting Carly out of town for good this time, Carly was already dreading what they might do to really shake her up.

The thought of it all was enough for her anxiety to rise so hard, it resulted in her having a panic attack on the way back home. Jason had driven the both of them back to Carly's apartment. She hadn't said muttered a word to him since he came over to her after Cece left. All she was doing was hiding her face from him, staring out of the window deep in thought or more like worry, and her hands clutched tightly on her lap.

She didn't want him to see her behaving the way she was. She didn't want him to find out in what ways her past had affected her. She didn't want him to know that sometimes when things got too much, her body just reacted badly to the stress she was experiencing and sometimes it not only scared her that she couldn't control her body, but also the people around her. She knew that's just how Jason was probably feeling, seeing her behaving the way she was. It was the first tme he was ever going to see the negative side to the new Carly.

Slowly closing the door behind the both of them, Jason took a few steps forward, his head peeping round to check where she went and his heart sinking slightly when he saw her back was to him, clearly the mood that had began in the car had not changed since arriving back, "Hey..." Jason said softly, making his way over to her and coming to a stop behind her body "Are you ok?"

Biting down on her bottom lip, she nodded her head in response to his question, not wanting to have to face him because she was trying so hard to focus herself back on calming herself down, but also she didn't want him to see her in this way and she certainly didn't want to speak back in case her voice was strained due to the tightness in her throat.

Knowing that she was clearly lying, he gradually laid his hand on her shoulder and suddenly he felt her body shaking. His eyes widened slightly at what was happening to her, more concern was growing in him about what was going on with her. It wasn't something he was use to seeing, especially not from her. He had no idea what to do or even say. He felt useless.

"Carly... you're shaking..." Jason pointed out, trying to get her to turn round and face him, but she was adamant she wasn't moving for no one just yet, that was until Jason squeezed her shoulder lightly moments before and got her to try face him again "C'mon Carl's."

Feeling irritated that he was distracting her and that he wouldn't leave her alone if she didn't face him, she spun round on her feet and brushed past him, making her way over to the window in the living space of her apartment.

Slowly turning round to watch where she was going, he sighed slightly and ran his fingers through his hair, wondering what the hell he could do in this situation and what could make her feel better. She was clearly ignoring him. The past couple of times she had been upset, she had held on to him and allowed him to comfort her. But this was different. It was evident she wasn't upset. She would have never walked away from him if she was. It was more like she was angry or irritated.

Had she seen him before, hiding away so he didn't have to speak to Cece or get involved with the two and now she was angry with him because he hadn't tried to help? Was ignoring him his punishment?

Even if she was annoyed at him, there was clearly something else wrong with her. He had never seen her get in this state before. She was shaking. Maybe in anger. But maybe in a lot more of something else. It was clear in the way she was hiding away from him. It was like she didn't want him to know how she was feeling. Was it in fear of judgement? In fear that he wouldn't like this new side of her? In fear that he wasn't what she had wanted all along?

He couldn't just leave her. He couldn't just not prove to her that he was there for her. However big or small the problem was. He was going to be there for her.

"Do you want some water?" He asks her, her head turning slightly to look over at him instead of the window, where she had been looking out before and she lightly nodded her head at him.

Quickly he grabbed a glass out of one of the cabinets, before he turned the tap on and filled the glass with some cold water. Once he was done, he brought it over to her and gently passed it over to her. When she took it from him, he could clearly see her body was still shaking slightly, her hands when they had took the glass were still shaky, her breathing was still slightly heavy and even when she swallowed the water down, it was harsh, so harsh it was like she was trying to swallow a hard golf ball.

Taking another small sip out of the glass, she laid her glass down onto the small table behind, which was positioned in front of the floor small. Her head turned back round to look at the window, trying to ignore Jason's concern that still remained on his face and focused her attention on the outside whilst trying to calm herself inside.

Her hand rose up wave some air towards her face, a sudden wave of heat flushing out of her cheeks and the feeling like she couldn't breathe intensified. Having Jason in front of her, as much as she appreciated it, was making her feel even more paranoid. The fact that someone could see him stood there with her through the sheer material in er curtains and because of the anxious look he also had, it was making her feel guilty that he was having to deal with this.

Noticing her cheeks were flushing and she was motioning that she hot, he looked up at the window "Do you want the window open?"

Following his eyes, she shaked her head and tucked her hair to one side round her shoulder, her neck feeling warm and sticky. Feeling like he had no other options of helping her and her breathing was just as bad as before, he laid his hand into his pants pocket and not knowing what else to do, he pulled out his cell phone.

"Do you need me to call an ambulance for you?" Jason asked, clearly his concern and uncertainty about what was going on had reached an all time high.

Shaking her head again at his offer, she pulled herself away from the window and took a seat down on the middle of the couch. Her eyes snapped shut, she began to breathe in deeply for five seconds and then back out again for another five. She repeated this processes whilst picturing positive things, knowing not to stop until her breathing was back to normal. It was already beginning to have some form of good effect on her, since her hands had finally stopped shaking.

Her hands which were once laid on her lap, where replaced with two larger and warm ones, which were now holding onto her own lightly and it wasn't long before there was another dip in the couch beside her. Carly then realised that Jason had joined her on the couch. Him also now seeming a lot more calm knowing she was getting herself back under control. She had already guessed he would be watching her, wondering what she was doing and what had happened that night.

After 5 minutes or so, Carly took her last breathe out and slowly re-opened her eyes to the surroundings of the main space of her apartment. Leaning her head back, exhausted from the attack and from what had happened tonight, she turned her head slightly to look at the worried guy beside her.

A small smile graced her lips when she saw Jason already looking back at her, looking less concerned, but there was still that ounce of distress present on his face at what had happened.

"Are you ok?" He asked her, when he had realised that her symptoms had subsided and she was seeming more normal now.

"I will be." She told him, her voice slightly dry, but at least the tightness had vanished.

"You really scared me..." He informed her with a sad tone.

"I know," She sighed lightly, never wanting that side of her to do that to him and leave him feeling bad, he was going to find out and he was going to ask questions about what was wrong with her, there was no way in hiding it any more, but she had to reassure him "I'm sorry. But I'm fine."

Looking back at her unsure, he ran his thumb over her hand softly, his eyes trailing up from their linked hands and back up to her face "You just had a panic attack."

"I know." Carly replied sharply, her voice and face both emotionless when it came to that topic.

"You do?" Jason asked surprised.

"Yeah it wouldn't be the first time." She told him quietly.

Raising his eyebrows up in confusion, he questioned her more "What do you mean?"

"I have had more than just this one," She began to explain to him, realising it was best if he knew the truth now, if they were really going to make this work, she had to be honest with him, it was a big step but it was a step in the right direction "I have had a handful in the past few years."

"This is a regular occurrence for you?"

"Not so much in the past year," Carly answered, "but since being back here there's been a few."

Lowering his head slightly, he thought back to that night when he had returned to Rosewood and had saw the state Carly had been in, as well as what she was like once he had arrived. He began to wonder if that was one of the attacks she had experienced since being back in town. Had he just missed out on her having a panic attack just by a couple of hours?

He couldn't help but feel guilty about all of this. Not just because she had this horrible disorder, a very limiting and not physically harmful, more mentally scaring, but also because he had no idea how to help and never would have even presumed she suffered with it.

"I had no idea..." He mumbled, glancing back up at her.

"Why would you, Jay? You've only just come back into my life." She replied, not wanting him to feel bad about all of this and wanting him to not feel so negative about it, because even though sometimes they felt horrible, it was only her bodies natural response to fear kicking in. Her body was only trying to protect her.

"So this was never something that use to happen to you?" Jason asked, trying to get his head around it and understand how it all started.

"Nope," She answered, knowing she had to be honest with him, she couldn't lie to him, she never could lie to him and she wasn't going to start now "Unfortunately, this is one of the side affects to my past."

Feeling his stomach drop at her words, he leant back up properly in his position on the couch and unlinked their hands, his guilt and anger getting the better of him "Your past did this to you?"

"Yes," Carly nodded, knowing that things were getting serious now and Jason was bound to react negatively to this, she knew he would and she knew how he felt, but how he felt about this whole thing was not true, she never believed it was true and that was never going to change "I was diagnosed with anxiety and panic disorder about three months after I left town."

"Carly..." Jason sighed, shaking his head and peeling his eyes away from her "I'm so sorry."

"You don't have to apologise, Jay," She assured him, seeing that it had already started, he was already thinking the worst about their involvement back then "It's ok. I can deal with it. I've managed it so well the past few years. It's normal for the anxiety to spark up now I'm back in town. This place is a massive trigger for me."

"It's a trigger for you because of me," Jason told her, looking down at the floor angrily and not wanting to look at her because of the guilt he felt, "Because of the past I created for you. A past that is one whole mess. A past of regrets and mistakes..."

"No..." She quickly cut him off, sitting forward and laying her fingers on his chin, trying to get him to look at her "That's not true. I don't regret anything. The only thing I regret is you not being in New York with me."

Hearing her words, he turned to look at her, studying her face hard for any signs of truth to her words and when he saw the desperate look on her face for him to believe her, he found himself sighing. He pulled her fingers away from his chin and instead linked their fingers together, where he gave her a light squeeze, letting her know that he believed every word she was saying. He really did have to stop blaming himself.

He had been blaming everything that had happened to his family, his friends and of course, Carly on himself for the past three years. After years of his parents drumming it into his head that he was a waste of space, worthless and just trouble because of his drug and alcohol abuse, Jason had really started to believe it was true. He had blamed every little thing that went wrong that he had some sort of connection to on himself. But now he had Carly back in his life, maybe it was time to rethink his beliefs.

"We both know that was impossible." Jason answered after a few moments had passed, flashing her a small smile as he did so.

"I know..." She sighed, her lips matching his own, "But you don't have to blame yourself for what happened to me."

"I do though...I got you into that world." He told her sadly.

"We have been through this before," She tried to tell him, make him see sense and that what happened to her was never his fault, "I chose to be in it."

Shaking his head in annoyance, he looked back at her, the smile from before had vanished off his face, "I just feel bad, you know? I had no idea you have anxiety now because of what happened back then."

"Well I do. It's something that I've just learnt to live with." Carly replied.

"I just wish..." Jason began, but Carly quickly cut him off again.

She didn't want to have to hear any more of his sorrow towards what happened. She just wanted their relationship to be focused on the prevent, maybe even the future and not about what happened in their past.

"... that you didn't turn me into what I was? Don't. It's done. It's the past for a reason. Can we just move forward? Stop living in the past. This is our future, Jason." She tried to tell him.

"I know," He sighed, feeling worse that he was ruining things between them already, he rubbed his thumb over her skin lightly and with his other hand he cupped her cheek "I'm glad we can start over."

"Me too." She smiled back at him, before their lips met in a passionate kiss.

After the night of the DiLaurentis' charity ball, the past couple weeks leading up to Christmas had flown by. It was now Christmas morning. For the first time in three whole years, Carly was waking up in her old bedroom in her Dad's house, the same house she grew up in and moved out of when she left for college.

It was always strange going back to her Dad's, so for her to sleep there in her old room for the first time, it was a struggle for her to get to sleep. It felt weird to be back there, sleeping in the same bed and the same room. But she clearly wasn't the same girl in some ways. She couldn't even remember the last time she had slept in that bed.

Her Dad had teased her that morning when they had sat in front of the Christmas tree, waiting to open their presents, that she had only struggled to sleep because she was so excited for Santa to come.

She was glad that she was getting to spend Christmas this year with her Dad back at the house she grew up in, instead of in a hotel room in New York when her Dad came to visit her for a few days before Christmas and then actually on Christmas the last three years, Carly had been spending the day at Brooke's family house with her and her family.

As much as she loved Brooke and her family, they were always so welcoming and made her feel part of the family, Christmas was always such a lovely time at their house and they would always have so much fun, it was nice for her to spend it with just her Dad for the first time in years on the actual day Christmas falls on. Although her Dad would have to leave later that evening for his usual late shift at the hospital, she knew spending the morning and most of the afternoon with him was going to be special.

While Carly was busy spending her time back with her Dad, Jason was also in Rosewood with his own family. He hadn't seen Carly in a couple of days since both of them had been busy finishing their work for Christmas. Carly was lucky enough to get Christmas Day off, but would be heading back to the station the day after to do her last few shifts of the year, before she spent the last days of the year and the first few days of the New Year in New York.

She had arranged with Jason that she would meet up with him the morning and afternoon, before she left for New York in the evening. They were planning on going out of town for the day. She had no idea what they were going to end up doing, but Jason had suggested he would surprise her and make it the perfect day for her. She honestly couldn't wait.

After Carly and her Dad had spent the morning opening their presents, tucking into some pancakes for breakfast and helping each other to cook Christmas dinner, they were both sat round the table, opened crackers with jokes and silly toys laid out in front of them, a selection of traditional Christmas food spread out in the middle of the table, where they had already piled different foods onto their plates and the quiet music of some Christmas songs was playing in the background.

As they both began to tuck into their meal, Carly shone a warm smile across at her Dad, knowing that was this a special moment for the both of them and it felt good that it was finally happening.

When John noticed his daughter's smile, he swallowed his mouthful and flashed her a smile back "How does your first Christmas dinner cooked by me in years taste?"

"Amazing!" She told him, with a light laugh "It's really good, Dad. It's definitely been worth the wait."

"You know, I really wanted to be able to spend Christmas with you properly in New York. You don't know how miserable I would be waking up on Christmas, half of the day gone already and I'd have to be up getting myself ready for another day of work." He explained to her.

"I know," She nodded her head, "but we're getting the chance to spend it together now. I couldn't be happier."

"I'm so glad, Carl's," He grinned back at her, laying his cutlery down onto his plate and she raised her eyebrows up in confusion at his actions, when he clearly still had a lot more food to consume on his plate "Do you know how proud of you I am?"

"Oh god, Dad. Please. Don't. You'll make me emotional." Carly laughed, grabbing her glass of orange juice and taking a sip out of it nervously.

"I am though, Carl's. I am so proud of you," He began to explain "I was so worried that you wouldn't be able to cope being back here. I thought you would have to leave again. But I was so wrong about that. You are so strong and brave. You've been managing so well. You've done amazing."

"Dad," Carly blushed at his words, an awkward laugh escaping her lips as she laid her glass back down "Thank you."

"I'm serious, Carl's. You've become everything I could have wanted in a daughter and more," He continued on about how proud he was of her, knowing that it was way over due and they had been through a lot over the past few years, he was so close to losing her at one point and he finally felt like he had got her back, especially within the past few months "you're career is only just starting, but you're already doing great from what I've noticed. I really am proud of you."

"Thank you," She beamed across at him, feeling emotional about this whole situation but also the words he had shared with her "that means a lot."

"Christmas never is special without your family beside you," He said, lowering his head slightly and Carly could already presume what two things or people he was referring to "but I'm glad this year I've got you."

"It's not a hundred percent complete though," She replied, unsure of whether she should bring it up or not, since it was a sensitive subject Carly never brought up with her Dad, "Is it?"

"I know," He nodded, looking across at her with a sad expression on his face, "I wish she was here too."

Knowing he was referring to her Mom and his wife, she flashed him a sad smile and began to tuck back into her food, knowing that if this conversation went too far it would probably end up ruining the happy atmosphere that had been lingering in the home all morning.

Carly couldn't bring herself to ruin that, even now when her Dad had finally got her back in town for good.

As soon as Christmas day was over, Carly was back at work researching and helping Tanner to build her case on Mona Vanderwall's homicide. It was a tough investigation. It was probably the most stressful and nerve racking job she had been thrown into yet. Even from a trainee's point of view, she could already tell how hard everyone was having to work to solve this mystery and Carly was determined to learn as much as she could now to prepare her for when she would be the one to leading the cases.

She was so glad that Tanner had assigned her more tasks related to what happened to Mona, rather than working on all the stuff for Spencer's arrest. Since that night at the ice ball, Carly hadn't heard from Spencer or Melissa. In some ways she was glad that she wasn't getting involved more than what she already was just by knowing what Melissa had done to try protect her younger sister.

After a busy few days at work, Carly had left the station on her last shift for the year by wishing everyone the best for the new year and offering Tanner her support if she needed it whilst Carly was away. Tanner had insisted that the trainee took her well earned break and to be ready to take on the next set of work she would have her for when she returned in the new year, because as Tanner had warned, things were going to get more crazy and in depth.

Feeling excited that things were getting more serious in the detecting side of things for all the cases, she couldn't wait to get back to work after her time in New York with Brooke. But for right now, she was crazily excited yet nervous for her day ahead with Jason.

She had woken up early to pack away her things for her small vacation she was taking. Then she had proceeded to get ready, leave out the rest of the things she needed to pack and go meet Jason a few blocks out of town, so then she wouldn't be spotted being picked up by him by anyone familiar in the town.

When she had arrived to the meeting place that late morning, her eyes were moving around her surroundings and stopped when she saw Jason's parked in his car against the side walk waiting for her.

Butterflies grew in her stomach about what their day was going to include, but also due to the fact that she hadn't seen him in just over a week. She really had missed him so much. It had been strange being at her apartment with out him, whilst he was at his family home celebrating Christmas or busy at work himself.

But now she was getting the chance to spend most of the day with him, she really couldn't wait to be able to hang out properly and go on what could be, their first official date, since they had never been on one before.

She couldn't help but feel nervous. She was worried that he might have had second thoughts about her over their time apart. She was worried that he might have not missed her as much as she had missed him. This was so unlike her to be so paranoid about how a guy felt about her, since she had never really had that worry before, when she had never really been into other guys she had been dating and never saw a future with.

But with Jason, it was so different. It always had been so different. She had always hoped they would have ended up together. But now she had the chance to make that a reality, she was letting her anxiety ruin it for her, by over thinking and analysing every possible worst outcome there could be.

Lowering her head slightly, she began to head her way towards his car along the side walk, her hand quickly flattened down the khaki coloured utility long sleeved shirt dress she was wearing, with her opaque panty hose and tassel front black ankle boots that had peep toes.

Once she had checked her outfit over, she ran her fingers through her hair that she had decided to straighten for the day and rubbed her lips together, checking the balm she had applied was still there. She felt so silly for acting this way. She felt like a teenager crushing over Jason all over again.

Her hand carefully grabbed hold of the door when she had arrived at his car, which alerted his attention away from his cell phone in his hand and up to the girl who was now entering his car.

He found himself instantly smiling when he saw her there, the excitement to see her again getting the better of him, his eyes roaming over her body and then back up to her face, where he could already see she was also grinning madly back at him.

Once she had sat down in the passenger seat beside him and closed her door, she turned to face him properly, where he quickly leant over and placed a light kiss on her cheek "Hey stranger."

"Hello." She replied softly and quietly, her teeth grazing her bottom lip excitedly and nervously, her eyes helplessly taking in his appearance, a pair of black skinny jeans clung to his legs, a gray cable knit sweater covered his upper body, knowing it had been way too long for her liking since she last saw him and was with him properly.

"How was your Christmas?" He asked her, not being able to take his eyes off her.

"It was good, really good, thanks," She replied, gazing back at him "And yours?"

"It was... interesting," He chuckled awkwardly, knowing that Carly would understand what he meant by that, since his family wasn't exactly a family right now with his Dad always being the way he was and Alison well, being simply just Alison, it had been tense and hard, especially when this was the first Christmas having Alison back and without Jessica, his Mom "let's leave it at that."

"Oh god," Carly lightly laughed, before she bent down to pick up her long black suede satchel purse, that she had laid on the floor below her feet when she had got in her car "Speaking of Christmas, I know we agreed we wouldn't do presents, but I couldn't help but want to get you something."

Jason raised his eyebrows up at this in confusion, watching her as she opened up her bag and pulled out a small box, before she handed it over to him "You didn't have to do this, Carl's."

"I know but I wanted to," She grinned back at him, motioning it more towards him and this time, he thankfully took it from her grasp "open it."

Looking down at the box, he carefully took off the lid and feeling her eager eyes watching him, he pulled the tissue paper open to reveal something that he had no seen in a long while.

Taking it out of the box and laying it in between his fingers, he found himself smiling more at the memory of when he had given the girl beside him who was once a teenager, the burgundy bracelet he had bought for himself just weeks before and had ended up giving to her to let her know that he was always there for her.

"Carly," Jason said in surprise at the object he hadn't seen in years and had completely forgotten about was now back in his hands, before he looked back at her "This is crazy. How did you find it?"

"It was back at my Dad's house in a box under my bed." She told him.

"No way! Your Dad actually let you keep it." Jason chuckled lightly.

"Yeah that was one of the boxes I made him promise me to keep in the house, in my room and never to get rid of. It took a lot to make him keep it, but he actually agreed to it." Carly explained.

"I can't believe you still have this," Jason said shaking his head amused, before he laid it back into the box and closed the lid over it, before he leant back in the drivers seat, his head resting on the head rest and his head turned to the side to look at her "Why did you keep it?"

"When I first got back here, I was so convinced I was going to get rid of it. All it could make me think of was that the day you gave it to me, was the same day you got back with Cece. I felt angry about it, just like I did back then. But, after my Dad left for work on Christmas Day, I decided to stay at the house and clear out some of my old things," She explained the story to him, whilst he listened to her every word "So again, I came across the box of all the memories from that year. There's photographs of everyone from parties, gatherings, you name it, it's all in there. Then there was that,"

She motioned with her head down to the box where the bracelet lay inside "and I thought, I feel different about it all since the last time I saw it. I don't feel as much resentment. I feel like it was something to look back on and how far we'd come since then. I thought maybe you should have it back."

"It's a sweet idea." He flashed her a side smile, before leaning over and pecking her lips lightly.

Pulling away from the kiss, he laid the box onto the dashboard and then he leant behind him, his hand began to rummage behind the back of his seat, like he was trying to find something and all Carly could do was frown back at him in confusion.

"I should have known you would have basically copied my idea of surprising you with a present," Jason joked with her, before he managed to find what he was looking for and he pulled it out to reveal a wrapped up present "but Merry late Christmas, Carly."

Looking down at the gift he had also planned to surprise her with, she blinked back in surprise and slowly took it from him "Jay? What is this?"

"Your present..." He told her like he was stating the obvious.

"I know," She giggled, shaking her head in disbelief, both of them had been unaware they were actually going against what they had agreed and were surprising each other with gifts "But I didn't know you were getting me anything."

"Well I didn't know you were getting me anything either," He replied back, eager for her to open it "I wanted to surprise you, so please open it."

Grinning back at him, she carefully began to unwrap the present and once the paper had been pulled off, her eyes went wide slightly at what the gift actually was. It was a pale pink coloured leather A5 diary, that had a silver metal clasp on the side that locked it shut. Carly was in shock that Jason had got her such a thoughtful, yet what seemed quite luxurious by the quality of the diary. She had no idea he would even spend anything on her.

"Jason," Carly beamed, holding the diary in her hands and looking across at him "This is amazing. You didn't have to get me this. Thank you so much."

"It's no problem," he smiled across at her, "I thought it would useful for when you're at work to keep organised and stuff."

"Yeah it's brilliant," She returned the smile, leaning across and pecking his cheek "Thank you."

Feeling like he really couldn't wipe the smile off his face, he placed his keys back into the ignition of his car and started up the engine, ready to drive and head to their destination for the day.

Releasing he wanted to get on the road, Carly quickly pulled on her seat belt and tucked away the diary into her bag, before Jason pulled away from the road side and accelerated down the street.

"So, where are we headed?" Carly asked a few minutes into the journey and tried to break the comfortable silence that had fallen between them.

"It's a surprise." He looked to the side at her quickly with a smirk, before turning his head back on the road.

"Haven't we already had enough surprises?" She laughed lightly, "You know I hate surprises."

"I know you do." He chuckled.

"Then please tell me." She whined, leaning across and laying her hand on his inner elbow.

Smirking at her childish behaviour, he came to a stop at a set of lights and turned his head round to face her, his hand resting on the top of her own "You're such a baby."

"I am not." Carly rolled her eyes in annoyance yet in a joking manner.

Both of them thinking back to all the times back in the day, when people would comment on how she was just like a little sister to them all, since she was one of the younger few who were still in school that hung out with that particular crowd.

Jason always use to tease her, as well as his close friends, about how she was always the baby of the group and of course, the cutest one. He could even see that now, three whole years later, that were still elements of the whining and sulking teenager he once knew when they were eager to get something or find something out, as well as when he use to tease her about something and she would get irritated easily, but also try not to laugh at his jokes.

"So are." Jason teased her more, which earned a light swat on his arm from the girl beside him and she leant back in her seat, turning her attention back on the road instead of him.

Laughing lightly under his breath, he focused his own attention on the road and after a few seconds, the lights changed and he pulled away, continuing their journey to the destination Carly was so eager to learn about before their arrival.

After a few minutes had past, the young woman turned back to face him, instead of the smirk he had on his face before, that reminded her a lot about the past and the smirk he always use to have present on his face when he was around her, had somehow died down now the silence had clouded over and he was busy driving.

Biting down on her bottom lip, she readjusted her position in her seat and leant her elbow on the arm rest in the middle of the both of them, Jason's eyes rolled down for a second to look at the girl who had edged closer to him, confusion and humour now present on his face.

"Please tell me." She whispered to him, her fingers trailing against his arm and her eyes flickering in attempt to get him to confess.

"Seriously..." Jason mumbled amused looking down at her, before looking down on the road, trying to hold it together and forget how adorable she looked, as well as how good her nails felt on him.

"You know you want to." Carly replied softly.

Running his tongue across his lip, he glanced down at her again and found himself sighing, "Fine. I'll tell you," She found herself smiling in triumphant and she leant back up in her seat, whilst Jason continued to drive "You know some nights, the more sober nights, I would come pick you up and drive us out of town?"

"Yeah?" She nodded, confused as to where he was going with this.

"Well, I thought maybe we could go back to one of those places where we use to go."

Titling her head to the side slightly, she found a light smile trailing across her lips and an excited warm feeling to wash over her, the fact that he had put so much thought into this day already with the gift and the location for their date, she couldn't help but feel more happy than she already was feeling to be with him.

"That sound's perfect."

After the hour and an hour drive, the pair pulled up to the chosen destination, which was just out of Philly and off the coast of New Jersey. It was a beach that they use to drive to between the hours of 9-10pm at night. They would drive there, sit in the car or on the beach, talking or looking up at the stars in silence.

The late night drives usually occurred on the days when both of them had enough of every day life, when Carly was stressed at school, alone while her Dad was working or Jason was fed up of having to put up with his over judgemental family, as well as all the fights he got into with Cece.

Once they had got out the car, they went for a walk round the centre, taking a look in the shops nearby, before going to grab a quick lunch from one of the fast food chains along the sea front. When they had finished their food, they decided to go for a walk along the beach and took a seat down on one of the benches along the peir.

Laying his arm around her shoulders, Jason tugged the blanket he had brought out the back of his car, around her to keep her warm in the winter air and slight breeze that was lingering.

Smiling up at him in thanks to his gesture, she laid her down on his shoulder and snuggled closer to him, feeling like somehow this was just like old times when they use to cling together to keep warm and use to always somehow be by each others side.

"I know you're off to New York in a few hours for New Years," Jason told her, rubbing his thumb over her shoulder in comfort "but I'm not going to lie, I really wish you were staying in town and spending it with me."

Rubbing her lips together in a warm smile, she turned her head up to look at him slightly "That would be nice. I could have probably brought you with me, if you would have come to New York with me all those years ago."

"Yeah I always imagine what it would have been like if I ended up coming with you and we actually got together properly."

"I know, I as the same. I never use to do much for new year. The last few years, I've been at Brooke's with her family and friend's celebrating. Because I had spent Christmas there and had no where else to go really. Not that I wanted to go anywhere else. But I love being there. They make you feel so welcome. I can't wait to go visit." She told him, her smile beaming more with excitement and at the memories.

He felt a sense of happiness come over him, when he saw how happy and excited she looked for the next few days, it made him feel less sad that he wasn't going to be able to spend the new year with her. Because as long as she was happy, nothing else mattered.

"My past new years sound so much more boring than how you have described yours," Jason chuckled, "I don't even think I've done much for the past three or even been in town."

"I don't blame you to be honest, with all the craziness and drama." She replied.

"Yeah exactly," He sighed, before he looked down at her, "So have you had many new years kisses over the years?"

Frowning at his question, she couldn't help but feel slightly awkward at what he was asking her and an uncomfortable giggle escaped her lips, before she adjusted her body and brought her head up to look at him properly "What? Why are you asking me that?"

"I'm just interested," He shrugged at her, "you've dated over the past few years, so I want to know if any of them were new year kisses?"

"Right," Carly nodded her head awkwardly, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks slightly "Um.. there was one guy, we started dating just before Christmas, so on New Year I guess he was my new years kiss. But by Valentines day, things were finished between us."

"I see," Jason gave her a side smile, before he turned to face her properly "Do you remember our New Years kiss?"

Raising her eyebrows up in confusion, she shook her head, trying to work out what he was on about, she couldn't remember kissing Jason on New Years, he was still with Cece and she would never have made a move whilst he was still with her, as well as that early on in getting to know him. They had only then known each other for three months.

"You seriously don't remember?" He asked surprised, whilst she shook her head again "You weren't even that drunk that night."

"I seriously don't remember." She chuckled, lowering her head slightly and trying to think back to that New Years night of the year they had first met.

 ** _~ December 31st 2008 ~_**

 _Taking a small sip out the red plastic cup she was holding in her hand, she glanced over at Jason who was stood beside her, deep in conversation with Garrett Reynolds, a friend of his, one of the friends who was with him that day when Carly first eyes on Jason and Carly had grown to know over the past few months._

 _She found herself sighing slightly, she was bored and tired of just standing around here. This was supposed to be a party to celebrate the new year. But she had decided that she wasn't going to drink much going into the next year. She wanted to remember it, rather than get so wasted, she wouldn't be able to remember anything of how she spent the last year of the year._

 _But now she was somehow beginning to regret that choice. She felt angry almost. She was beginning to think that she actually needed some form of alcohol in her system to actually have some fun. The start of the night had been fun. She had been chatting away to a few girls she had been introduced to at the start of the party, then she had gone off with Jason and a few of his friends in the back yard of where the house party was being held._

 _However the past couple of hours had seem to be dragging along. All she had been doing was taking small sips every half an hour out of the same red cup she had got giving at the start of the party, whilst she listened into Jason's friend's conversation and occasionally he would wrap his arm around her or spark up some conversation with her._

 _If she would have her way, she would have probably gone off to find more booze or go find someone else to talk to for the rest of the night. But she had promised Jason she would stick by him as he too was decreasing his amount of drink for the night, after a whole year of drowning himself in alcohol and smoking whatever substance he could get his hands on._

 _But tonight, he wanted it to be different. He wanted to be more in control. He wanted to do it for Carly's benefit, as well as his own. But most of all, he didn't want her to go out of his sight. Jason wanted the new year to be brought into with Carly by his side. Because he knew that he was going to have a great year with her around._

 _Glancing down at the time on his cell phone, Garrett brought his head back up to look at Jason "I should probably head back inside, find someone to plant my kiss on when the clock strikes midnight."_

 _"Ok see you later, man." Jason chuckled at his friend, before Garrett slapped his hand goodbye and waved at Carly, who then proceed to wave back at him._

 _Once Garrett had gone back inside, Jason turned back to Carly with a small smile and she flashed him a tight one back, before she decided to down the rest of the contents in her cup._

 _"Hey, easy," Jason told her, with a slight smirk and stepped in front of her "I thought we weren't going heavy tonight."_

 _"We're not, but I'm bored." She replied, tossing the cup down on the floor and looking up at him._

 _"I'm sorry, Carl's. I promise I'll make it up to you." He assured her, taking a large sip out of his beer bottle and handing the rest over to her._

 _Looking down at the bottle in his hand and what he was motioning over to her, she glanced back up at him with raised brows, knowing that this wasn't going to end well if they were going to increase their intake of alcohol. They had promised each other they wouldn't. But if it would liven up the mood, then maybe there was no harm in the matter._

 _Rolling her eyes playfully, she took the beer from him and took a large gulp of the substance, before he wrapped his arm around her and brought her into his body, chuckling as he did so and Carly wrapping her arms around his lower upper half._

 _"Hey Jason," They heard a name call after a few moments of their embrace, Jason's chin moving off the top of Carly's head and looking towards the person now approaching "Carly."_

 _Pulling away from Jason, Carly turned to look at the guy now in front of them, he also carting a beer bottle in his hand and a goofy smile on his, clearly had a little too much to drink and Carly recognised him to be one of Jason's friend's from school._

 _"Hey man." Jason greeted him, coming to stand beside Carly instead of in front of her._

 _"What's up, you two?" The guy asked, looking between the both of them with a mischievous look on his face "I wasn't ruining a moment there, was I?"_

 _"Of course not." Carly was quick to answer._

 _"I see," he replied, nodding his head at Jason suggestively about his involvement with the younger girl, "You still with Cece?"_

 _At the mention of the older girl's name, Carly lowered her head slightly and took another sip out of the beer Jason had given her, whilst Jason answered the question "Yep."_

 _"You don't sound so enthusiastic about that, man." The guy noted._

 _"Ergh, it's nothing,we just don't tend to hang out much at these parties. She's always off doing her own thing." Jason explained, the tension risen between them._

 _"More like getting with other guys..." Carly muttered under her breathe, but was clearly loud enough for the two older guys to hear._

 _"Oh, Carly, you went there." The guy chuckled, liking the sass the girl had on her that night._

 _Jason turned his head to look at Carly, who shrugged back at her friend helplessly and downed the rest of the beer, knowing that she was slowly losing herself to the alcohol already, she was beginning to feel tipsy and not care what she said._

 _Shaking his head at her, Jason took the beer from her and took a large sip for himself, whilst the other guy continued to look between the two of them dangerously "So Cece won't be your new years kiss then?"_

 _"Probably not." Jason told him._

 _"I'm sure Carly we'll give you a little something." The guy joked, causing Carly to send daggers his way and raise her eyebrows up at him, trying not to laugh or smirk and give into his humour that night._

 _"Oh will I?" She asked, folding her arms across her chest unimpressed, as Jason looked at her interestedly._

 _She ignored her older friends look on her, knowing if she looked at him she would appear nervous and would give away how she really felt about him, instead she listened to their other friends reply to her question "I think we all know the answer to that."_

 _Rolling her eyes at his words, she took the beer bottle back from Jason and pointed it at the guy in front of the two of them "I can't listen to you any more. Please leave."_

 _"I'm just joking, Monroe," He laughed loudly, rolling his tongue over his lips and smirking uncontrollably, before he held his hands up in defence "Ok. I'll go. Have a great New year, you two."_

 _"You too, man." Jason called back, as the other guy wondered off and headed back inside to the party._

 _Carly found herself sighing, wishing she wasn't feeling so irritated by his comment, knowing it was just a joke, but somehow deep down she knew that she wanted it to be that way. She knew she wanted to be able to be Jason's New Year's kiss. But that was never going to happen. He was with Cece, even if Cece wasn't around, Carly knew she couldn't do that. Also she was sure Jason wouldn't even want to kiss her._

 _Bringing the beer bottle up to her lips, she downed the rest of the contents, as Jason wondered over to a tree trunk a few steps away from where they were originally stood and leant his body against it, staring across at her with a goofy grin on his face._

 _"What?" She asked him after a few moments of him staring at her._

 _"Nothing." He replied, before beckoning her over to him with his fingers._

 _Frowning back at him, she laid the beer bottle down on a small wooden bench, before she wondered over to him and stood beside him against the tree stump. For the next few minutes that passed, the two of them just stood there, side by side, neither of them saying a word, because they didn't have to. The silence was comfortable. It always was when it lingered between them._

 _Both of them kept their eyes on the party that was going on around them, groups were bundling inside or huddling together outside, the count till midnight reaching closer and closer. Couples were meeting, ready for their new years kisses, friends were drinking and hugging, those who had decided to hook up for the night were already busying being intimate and for Carly and Jason, they were just watching, take it all in, knowing that it if they were going to start the year off together, side by side, then it was going to be one hell of a year._

 _It was less than a minute until midnight, people had began cheering and chanting the countdown till midnight. It wasn't until they hit the 30 second mark, when Jason turned his body slightly to face her and she immediately looked back at him._

 _"What about that new year's kiss, then?" He asked her daringly._

 _She felt her chest tighten at his words, her stomach began to flutter slightly and she found herself lost for words at first. Carly studied his face hard, trying to see if he was joking or showing any signs that he was lying. But when all she could see was that goofy grin on his face, she knew that there was a chance he could have meant it._

 _But could she go through with it?_

 _She wasn't that selfish enough to ruin his relationship with Cece. She wasn't that girl. She hoped she would never be that girl._

 _"W-what?" She asked puzzled yet nervous._

 _"You know, the new years kiss?" He answered, acting like he was stating the obvious to her._

 _How could he act so cool about this?_

 _Raising her eyebrows up at him, she shook her head and made her way back over to the bench. She quickly took another beer out of the rack that was sat on the seat, before she broke open the lid and took a sip out of the liquid, not in the mood for whatever game he was playing tonight. She didn't want to be messed around._

 _"Oh c'mon, Carl's. I'm just trying to have some fun," He informed her, trying to get her to cheer up and get back her smile that he loved, before he came over to stand in front of her "I promise you I would make it up to you."_

 _"And you think that kissing me is going to make it up to me?" She questioned him, as his hands laced over hers on the beer bottle and she found herself gazing up into his eyes._

 _Looking back down at her, his tongue rolled over his lips and he also found himself lost in her eyes, before he slowly nodded, the countdown now reaching the 10's "Just a little kiss on the cheek, there's no harm in that, is there?"_

 _Rubbing her lips together nervously, she forced herself to retrieve her eyes away from him and she glanced over her shoulder, noticing that no one was hardly around where they were or busy paying attention to them. I_

 _t wasn't that what they were doing was wrong, because it wasn't, there was no harm in a friendly kiss on the cheek. But she was worried that someone would see them and presume something completely different. She couldn't have it getting out that she was some sort of home wrecker. Carly was supposed to be the good one in all of this._

 _Glancing back at him, she let a small sigh escape her lips, both of them know hearing the countdown coming to an end and the sound of 'Happy New Year' being shouted across the property space. The sound of fireworks could be heard in the distance, going off at other events in town or house parties around the block from where they were._

 _Bending down towards her, Carly watched Jason's lip's slowly come in to contact with the side of her face and she found herself becoming weak at his gentle touch on her skin. Moving her head slightly, she pressed her own lips against his skin like it was some sort of impulse to do so and she didn't realise what she had actually done until she pulled away from him._

 _Her lips detached themselves from the corner of his mouth, a worried and embarrassed feeling coming over her at what she had accidental done. She began to fear the worst had happened._

 _What if he was now annoyed at her for mistake? What if he would run off and tell Cece what she had done? What if someone had saw how close she got to him by accident? What if this was already the end for their friendship for the new year?_

 _Looking down at her, Jason found himself smirking and his teeth grazed his lip, happy and excited that he had come into the new year with someone who he had grown to know and like, over the past few months, as well as someone who meant so much to him already. He wanted to have her in his life for the next year. Also he didn't mind that his lip might have slightly just grazed with hers. He kind of liked._

 _"Happy New Year, Carly." He congratulated her in a soft and quiet tone, his breathing tickling her face and she felt a lump form in her throat._

 _Gazing back at him, her lips formed a tight smile, feeling guilty and embarrassed at what she had done. She quickly withdrew her hand from the beer bottle and stepped away from him, "I have to use the rest room."_

 _Turning on her heal, she quickened her pace and began her journey inside the house, where she knew she would be downing the nearest shot in sight. She couldn't believe what she had accidental done and how could Jason be so cool about it._

 _But for Jason, he got what he wanted. The next year spent with the girl he began it all with._

 _ **~ End of Flashback ~**_

"Oh god..." Carly grumbled, her hands quickly covering her face in embarrassment as she suddenly remembered the memory that she had so hidden well by a number of alcoholic drinks after it had happened "I was so hoping you wouldn't have remembered that."

"It was basically our first kiss." Jason chuckled at her flushed face.

"I was so mortified I had accidentally done that. I felt so stupid." She told him, pulling her hands away from her face and looking back at him with bright red cheeks, what weren't caused by the cold.

"You didn't need to be," He assured her, lacing his fingers with her own and squeezing them "I kind of liked it."

"You did?" She asked, raising her brows up at him.

"Well yeah," Jason smirked mischievously "it just intensified my feelings for you more."

"You had feelings for me back then?" Carly questioned, surprised at what he had said but also confused he had never admitted to that before when they had been closer.

"I think so, I always liked you, ever since I saw you in that cute little bikini in the Hasting's yard that summer. I knew I had to get to know you. It was just an extra bonus that you turned up at that gathering a few weeks later and we hit it off straight away." He explained.

"Why did you never tell me sooner?" She asked, knowing that everything he was saying was exactly the same time when she had started to like him also.

Looking away from her, he stared off into the distance and Carly felt her stomach churn slightly, already guessing the whole reason why it had took so long for Jason to admit how he felt about her. She had always believed it had been so one sided. Carly had tried to ignore it for so long. Because she knew they couldn't be together and she would be leaving for New York after the summer. But now from what Jason was saying, it seemed like maybe he had liked her for as long as she had liked him.

"It was complicated at the time," He told her, the mood suddenly clouding over between the two of them, it felt tense and uneasy "we both know we couldn't go there."

"I know." She nodded, lowering her head sadly and laying it back on his shoulder.

A silence fell over them. Both of them feeling more awkward than ever. They hadn't felt like this in months since they had started getting to know each other once again. But it was about time something like this happened between them. It was as expected. It couldn't be plane sailing for long. There had to be moments where there would be tension and doubt, as well as confusion, fear and sadness.

And this was clearly one of them.

* * *

 **Author note:** **Back with a new part! I hope you all enjoyed reading and you're interested to see where this story goes! Thanks so much for reading and taking an interest in this story.**

 **Special thanks to RHatch89, LiLuLo12 and BadSmiles for reviewing the last part. I really appreciate it.**

 **Hope you're all well,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	33. Always Leads Back

**Always Leads Back:**

 _ **~ Flash back ~**_

 _Glancing back at her reflection in the mirror, her hand trailed down her neck and came to a stop on the bruised area on the bottom of the side of her neck. She lightly ran her fingers across the hickey that had formed on her skin._

 _A shameful expression formed on her face, before a light sigh escaped her lips and she carefully turned the tap on to wash her hands. Quickly she rinsed them over, before adding some soap and then rising away the bubbles._

 _Turning off the tap and drying her hands, she ran her fingers through her hair, tossing her hair over the hickey on her neck, making sure she covered it well and once last time she checked over herself._

 _Stepping out of the rest room a few minutes later, she made her way down the hall of the home the party was being held at. Loud noise could be heard from downstairs, where people were mingling and the music was bouncing off the walls._

 _Her head was beginning to pound and it just wasn't from the noise coming from the lower ground. It was from the tiredness, sadness and guilt she felt inside. She felt disgusted at herself for acting such a way tonight, but it had to be done. It was over with now. She deserved at least one night to sulk about it, but she knew tomorrow she would wake up and move on._

 _For now, she knew she just had to get out of there and head home._

 _Coming round the top of the banister, she could see the madness of the party going on downstairs in the front sitting room of the house. People were either sprawled across the couches making out, downing drinks or stood on them, jumping to the bass line of the track that was playing from the speakers. Others were spread out across the room, some of them even flowing into the other rooms of the downstairs area, all of them enjoying their drinks and making memories with their friends._

 _She didn't realise how packed it had got within the time she had gone upstairs. It was getting crazy in there, all more of a reason she wanted to leave and have some breathing space. Her fun for the night was now over, but for some of these people it was only now just beginning._

 _Stepping down onto the first step, a few people who were sat along the stairs, glanced up at her with raised brows and she lowered her head nervously, before taking the next few steps, her feet quickening, just wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. She couldn't stand people's watchful and questionable looks on her. She knew it looked bad that she was coming down from upstairs, which was of course the place everyone went to get some privacy when they were up to no good._

 _Once she had reached the last step, she glanced down at the hall that lead to the front entrance of the house and relief washed over her when she realised that it was pretty much clear from anyone who could spark up conversation with her or try get her to stay at the party._

 _Just as she was about to turn her head back and take one last look at the people around her, she felt a long hard stare on her and it instantly was enough for her to spring her attention onto them instead._

 _Her eyes met with his for the first time that night, she found her heart sinking a little and her stomach to feel uneasy when she saw the expression on his face. It wasn't the usual happy and mischievous look that they always held. It was one more of sadness, hurt and anger. And it all it could do was tell her one clear thing._

 _He knew. He knew what she had done tonight. He knew that she had gone upstairs. He knew that she had given into Eric. She knew that he was probably feeling disappointed and ashamed of her. It was the total opposite of what she had wanted to happen and all she could feel was worse than she already did about the whole situation._

 _Pulling her head away from him, her eyes trailed over to the numerous tray of drinks that were situated on a table nearby. Her feet wondered over to them, knowing she just needed some sort of relief from this horrible feeling she felt and her hand instantly grabbed hold of one of the shot glasses._

 _Quickly tipping her head back, she downed the strong liquid in the glass and slammed it back down onto the table. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she shut her eyes for a moment and winced at the strong taste that was hitting the back of her throat._

 _Reopening her eyes, she turned her head slightly to look back over to him and it was then she learnt that he hadn't took his eyes off her ever since she remeraged from upstairs. Lowering her head, she quickly made her way towards door to leave, knowing it was time to get out of there._

 _Upon seeing her head towards the exit, Jason frantically looked around and it wasn't long before, he found himself slipping past the group of people he was with, laying his bottle down onto a surface and he staggered his way towards the exit before going into a steady jog to try catch up with her._

 _Once he had rounded the side of the sitting room and could see her now slipping out the front door, he quickened his pace and grabbed hold of the door before it slammed shut. As he took a step outside, he saw the girl beginning to make her way across the front porch and he found his heart beginning to pound in his chest at the thought of her walking out and leaving so early on into the night._

 _He had to talk to her. He had to get some answers from her. He needed to know why she had done what she had. He needed to hear it from her and not anyone else this time. Everything had been going so well for him that night before he found out what she had been up to and the whole reason why she had decided to come alone to the party tonight, instead of tagging along with him and his friends like usual._

 _He wish he could have seen it coming, maybe he would have been able to stop her and talk some sense into her. But he couldn't. It was over. There was no going back now. But he was sure as hell going to find out as much as he could from the teenager._

 _"Carly! Carly!" He called out to the girl, trying to get her to stop but she didn't, she continued to slowly walk across the porch, before taking her first step down the steps towards the front path, he urgently had to talk to her "Hey, stop. I'm trying to talk to you."_

 _Upon hearing his voice call her the first time, she tried to ignore it and push herself to just walk away from him, knowing that she really couldn't speak to him after what had happened tonight. She knew how he felt about it. But she didn't want to have to hear him physically say it._

 _But once, she heard him speak again and could hear the desperation in his voice, she couldn't help but give into his demands. Her steps came to a sudden stop. She already felt like she had let him down and she knew she couldn't let him down anymore by just walking away from him without giving him an explanation. But knew she had to act strong about it. He couldn't see her being weak._

 _"What is it, Jason?" Carly asked, gradually turning her body round to finally face him and crossing her arms "Can't you see I'm leaving?"_

 _"I want to ask you something..." He explained, ignoring her strange behaviour towards with him._

 _"What?" She asked, titling her head._

 _"Why him?" He begins, causing her to frown back in response, trying to act like she wasn't following to avoid any confrontation and further tension between the two "Why him, Carly? Out of all the guys you could have lost it to, you chose Eric Kahn?"_

 _Shaking her head in annoyance at how he was acting, Carly rubbed her lips together nervously "Seriously... you're really doing this..."_

 _"I wouldn't have to do this if you made smarter choices." Jason told her in a stern tone._

 _Carly instantly rolled her eyes at his behaviour and the tone he was using towards her, she knew this wouldn't end well between them, she should have just walked away and told him she couldn't hear him. It would have been a lot easier than having to have some lecture off of him._

 _She hadn't spoken to him all day or tonight. But when she did speak to him again, she didn't want it to have to be like this. It felt like this was the beginning of the end for their friendship. This was their first proper argument and Carly was seriously not in the mood to have to deal with the argument between them._

 _"Oh my god. Will you hear yourself?" Carly snapped at him, "You're not my parent. I came here to have fun and get away from people telling me what to do. But here you are, acting like you're my Dad or something."_

 _Jason was the one to shake his head this time at her words, before he folded his own arms "Because I care about you."_

 _"Then if you care about me, then let me go," She told him, her voice starting off loud before it got softer "I want to go home, Jay."_

 _"You're not leaving until you answer my question."_

 _Looking up at him long and hard, she found a light sigh escape her when he shew no change in attitude "I'm tired, Jay. Please."_

 _"Answer me!" He demanded, his face just as stern as his voice._

 _"You really want to know?" She asked him, before he nodded and raised his brows up interestingly, realising he wasn't gong to give up "Ok... fine. Because he wanted it. He wanted me, Jason. He wanted me my body. He wanted to take my virginity. So he did and it's done. There, are you happy now?"_

 _Jason felt his heart sink slightly at her words. He felt the anger continuing to bubble up inside of him. If he had been alone, he was sure he would have flipped out and punched the closest thing in sight. But he didn't want to show Carly that crazy side of him. He didn't want to scare her off to the point he would lose her. But he knew after tonight, that he might have already lost her._

 _"No..." He muttered._

 _"It's seem's like you never are, Jay," She groaned frustrated "I am so done with trying to impress you.."_

 _Carly began to turn on her feet, ready to walk away from here and him. She couldn't believe this was happening between them. It wasn't supposed to be like this between them. He wasn't suppose to cause such a fuss over what she had done tonight, yet he had and Carly had no idea why. But she was soon about to find out._

 _Quickly stepping down a couple of the steps, he grabbed hold of her elbow and stopped her from walking away from him "That's the real reason why you did it, isn't it?"_

 _Looking down at his grip on her arm and back up to him, she responded confused "What?"_

 _"You did it to impress me?" He repeated._

 _Blinking back at him surprised, she found herself slightly lost for words at the start, unsure of whether or not she should be honest with him about how she really felt, but she didn't want to because there was no chance in hell he would feel the same and they could never work out because of the circumstances they were faced with._

 _"No." She lied nervously._

 _"Because I know the real reason, Carly," Jason told her, not believing her words for one second and knowing the truth behind what had gone on tonight with her and Eric, the only way to make her best honest with him, was if he was honest back with her, he had to tell her the truth before it was too late and he lost her for good "Because you feel it too, don't you?"_

 _"Feel what?" She tried acting confused by it all, fearing what would happen if she admitted how she felt and if he was just saying things to mess with her head._

 _"The same way I feel about you. You feel it too. You've always felt it." He said letting go of her arm, causing her to shake her head furiously in shock and confusion._

 _"What are you on about, you're drunk, you don't know what you're saying." Carly tried to tell him._

 _"I might be slightly tipsy..." He told her, before he took the next few steps down and joined her on the concrete path, a light smile playing on his lips "But as they say, a drunken mind speaks sober thoughts."_

 _Fighting off her smile at his words, she tried to avoid look at him also, but it was no use, he was too close to her now and she could already feel herself giving into him "Jason..."_

 _"I'll let you go, just answer me this," He asked "Do you like me?"_

 _"Of course I like you," She was quick to answer, "You're my best friend."_

 _"No. Carly. Do you like me?" Jason asked again, wanting the truth now._

 _"Jason..." Carly said his name softly._

 _"Because I like you. I like you so much. I'm crazy about you," He admitted to her, her heart was beginning to race at this point and her palms were beginning to sweat with nerves at how this was all unfolding, could she really believe him or was it just his intoxicated brain? "It killed me to see you with him."_

 _She sighed "You're drunk, Jason."_

 _"I'm not that drunk, Carly," He assured her, grabbing hold of her hands and linking their fingers together "I'm telling you the truth, I like you."_

 _All Carly could do was feel guilty. Guilty that she had gone to Eric tonight and given into him. Guilty that it had resulted in an argument with Jason. Guilty that she had been acting like such a bitch and a slut tonight. Guilty that she liked a guy so so so much, to the point where she would even be with him and could potentially see a future with, a guy that had a girlfriend, who hated Carly and had threatened her on many occassions, but a guy who actually liked her back._

 _"Jason..." She found herself repeating his name again and again._

 _""Please tell me you feel the same." He begged, looking deep into her eyes and looking for an answer._

 _She didn't know if she could tell him that she felt the same way, due to the fear of what it could due to their friendship but also if someone overheard or spotted them talking. There would be that possibility that Cece would find out and with Alison's help, they would try to destroy Carly once and for all. There was also the fact that her Dad hated Jason with a passion. They would never have the chance of actually being together because if Cece wasn't putting a stop to it, there was Carly's dad who was trying to every free second he got._

 _"Why do this?" Carly asked him, needing some answers of her own "Why do this now?"_

 _"What do you mean?" He raised his brows._

 _"Why tell me you like me now after I already had sex with Eric? Why tell me when we're arguing and basically about to lose our friendship? Why wait till tonight to tell me how you really feel?" She pressed her questions to him, peeling her hands away from him and back down her sides "Why, Jason? Why tonight? Or are you just messing with my head?"_

 _"I'm not, I swear." He assured her, going to take her hands again, but she snatched them away from him._

 _"Don't." She told him._

 _"Carly. Please," Jason was desperate for her to calm down and just let him show her how he really felt "I'm not lying when I say I like you."_

 _"This would hurt a lot less if I didn't feel the same.." She mumbled to herself, but it was loud enough for Jason to hear and enough to confirm everything he had suspected._

 _A few moment of silence fell over the two of them, the tension was thick between the two of them and he found himself beginning to lose the front he had put up to stop himself from doing what he had always wanted. He so badly wanted to prove to her that he was serious and that it wasn't the drink talking. He hadn't even drunk much that night because he wanted to be on alert for when she would come back to the party and he could check on her._

 _Glancing up at him slowly through her eyelashes, she found herself beginning to get lost in his eyes, an exhale escaped her lips and Jason leant in ever so slightly closer. His breathe now tickling her face, his hand's slowly taking hold of her own again and this time she didn't let go, because she liked his touch, she liked how he always comforted her and made her feel safe, as well as good._

 _This was so wrong. But it didn't stop either of them for getting caught up in the moment._

 _Within a flash, Jason pressed his lips quickly to her own, without thinking it through and the consequences it might have. Carly felt herself froze in shock. She couldn't move or even kiss him back. She was so unsure of whether she wanted to even do this, when there was so much risk involved and she was never the girl to break up relationships._

 _He gently laid one of his hands on the back of her neck, pulling her closer to him and wanting more of her. But Carly knew that she couldn't do this. It was so wrong of them, but more importantly her for doing everything she said she never would. However much she liked it and was enjoying the feeling of his lips on her own, she had to pull away and leave before anything else happened._

 _Slowly pulling away from him, their foreheads lightly touched and both of them breathing heavily after that had just happened. To some it wasn't a lot. A light peck on the lips. But for them, it was going to change everything and nothing would ever be the same between them again._

 _Breaking away, she detached her hand away from him and took a step back shakily "I-i-i have to go." She told him, before she began a steady jog down the front path and towards the street, that would lead her way back home._

 _All Jason could do was watch her leave in confusion, surprise and anger that what he had wanted to happen, had to happen in such a way that he knew they both weren't going to be able to get back from._

 _ **~ End of Flashback ~**_

They hadn't even realised that they had been sitting there, on that beach bench, people wondering past them, the waves crashing behind them, for a good ten minutes in complete utter silence. Both of them remembering the time when things had changed between them. The first moment they were honest with how they felt. The first moment that occurred just a week before Carly was due to graduate high school. The first moment that started a whole summer off of trying to hide their feelings and not give into how they really felt.

But three years on, it seemed like they finally had and however painful the past was, Jason was apart of her past, just like she was his. But now they got the chance to be each others future. The time spent dwelling on the past and past mistakes had to stop. They had each other now and they had to remember that. They finally were together.

"As much as I would love to sit here all day with you, I should probably start thinking of heading back home and packing up the rest of my stuff," She suggested, breaking the silence and removing her head off his shoulder "I have to get a taxi to the station and a train to New York in a few hours."

"I know, I hate that you're going away," Jason sighed, in which she gave a small pity smile in response, before he glanced down at her with a smile "But you're right we should get going."

"I really had a great time, Jason," Carly told him, not looking anywhere else but him, "Thank you for surprising me today with my gift, but also taking me here. It felt like old times. The better half of the past."

Grinning madly at her words, he leaned down towards her, rubbing his nose against hers, before he planted a light kiss on her lips "You're so welcome," he assured her, "since you're leaving for the next week, I can at least drop you off at the station, can't I?"

Giggling slightly at his offer, she nodded her head "Of course you can."

"Great." Jason beamed, before he leaped up on to his feet and held out his hand for her to take.

Taking his hand, she carefully pulled herself up and came to stand in front of him, her eyes looking up at him "Are you really going to miss me?" Carly asked him.

"Of course, why wouldn't I miss Carly Monroe?" He answered, with a toothy grin and he linked their fingers together.

"I don't know," She shrugged, feeling silly for asking, but she just wanted the reassurance that things wouldn't change between them if she went away for a few days "I guess I just don't want you to forget about me when I'm gone."

"How could I ever do that, huh?" He asked her, puzzled by her behaviour, but also knew that this was so new to the both of them, of course they were going to be sceptical of the other since there was still so much to learn about each other and their adventures of the past year "I was without you for three whole years and not once did I ever forget about you."

"I know, I'm being stupid," She bit on her bottom lip, her cheeks flushing slightly "I just don't want things to be different when I get back."

"Why would they be?" He asked confused.

"Because what if you realise that you don't want this, what if you realise that I'm not good enough for you, what if it's not as good as you expected, what if you realise my anxiety and the way I am now is not what you wanted." Carly explained to him, feeling stupid for feeling the way she was, she didn't want to be a paranoid little girl, but this relationship meant so much to her.

It was her first official one and it was with the guy she had always liked. She didn't want to lose him now she finally had him.

How could she have not been a little worried about things going wrong? Was everything between them just not going to meet thee expectations they had created?

"Carly," Jason couldn't help but chuckle at her, not in a make fun of way, but in a surprised way "You have nothing to worry about, ok? You're the only one I want. You always have been. Nothing is going to change whilst you're away. And everything we have been through so far has just made me fall for you harder. I don't mind that you have anxiety, it doesn't bother me. As long as we're together, nothing else matters, ok?"

Nodding her head understandingly and feeling reassured by his words, she put her head in her hands embarrassed "God, I am being so silly."

"No you're not," Jason quickly told her, removing her hands from her face and cupping her face in his own hands "You're just being, Carly. Very much so actually like the old Carly, I remember."

"Oh yeah, how?" She asked with raised brows, laying her hands on his shoulders.

That was the first time since being back in contact he had actually told her something about her that was much like her old-self. It felt good that he actually remembered and good for him that she was still the same girl in someways.

"You know, being cute and funny." He explained with a goofy grin.

"You think I'm cute?" Carly rolled her tongue over her lip playfully.

"Oh yeah." Jason watched her lips, before he quickly smashed his lips on her own and they both found themselves instantly melting into the kiss.

A huge grin played on both of their lips, knowing that this right here was what they had been waiting for for such a long while. Day's like this meant they could be themselves, out in a town, where no-one knew them really and they could just enjoy being together without any accusations from anyone else. It felt so good and so worth the wait.

Feeling so happy and lucky to be in the moment, but knowing she really did have to get home soon, Carly slowly detached her lips away from Jason's after a few moments and a light giggle escaped her "We really do have to go, Jason. I can't miss my train."

"I know, I know." He nodded sadly, slowly pecking her lips once more, before he wrapped his arm around her and they began their journey back to the car.

Carly gently wrapped her arm around his lower back, cuddling into him as they walked and neither of them could knock the grin off their faces. Even though it wasn't the new year yet, Carly already had a great feeling about the next year. She knew it would be filled with more exciting moments with Jason. Her work would really kick off and she would be one step closer to becoming a trainee Detective. She was back seeing her Dad weekly and spending time with him. She was getting to spend the new year in New York with her best friend, who she still had to persuade to come live in Rosewood.

Everything seemed to be going so well for her, it somehow felt unreal and all the doubts she had ever had about particular things, were pushed back to her mind. She was so ready to take on the year.

Because she was going to need it.

New York was the perfect place to spend New Years. It wasn't just the fact that she was getting to spend it in Times Square, watching all the exciting events for the night and then watching the big fireworks, it was because of the people she was surrounded by. Brooke, a couple of friends from college and Brooke's family which consisted of her parents, her two older brothers, her and her younger sister. Carly always felt so welcome and like she could be herself when she was with these people. It was the best way to introduce the new year.

The day and night they weren't spent celebrating the new year, Brooke and Carly had gone sighting seeing round some of their favourite places in the city, just for old times sake. They had also gone shopping, ate so much great food, visited their old college campus and even went ice skating in central park. It had been one of the best trips ever and Carly never wanted it to end. She so wished she could have brought Brooke home with her, she was going to miss that girl like crazy now she was back in Rosewood.

A few months had passed since Carly had been back in Rosewood. Things had been slightly crazy at work with everything to do with the cases she was assigned to. Her work days were stressful to say the least. She was only then starting to realise the pressure this job had and how exhausting it really was working on such big and complicated cases. But the reality of it all only made her want it more.

It only made her way to become a Detective more and more. She wanted to be pushed to the limit so she could really achieve great results. Pressure only drove more motivation for her. Also because of how crazy things had been for her, she had really been able to show to Tanner just how serious she was and how good her work ethic could be. Tanner had started to really trust the trainee detective.

Carly had been going out on more investigations with her and the reports she been typing up in the office were being used as actual documents in the cases. She finally felt like her hard work was paying off. Somehow she felt like her trip to New York and her encounter with Holbrook weeks ago had only drove her more to become what she wanted.

She had even been extending her hours from an hour earlier in the morning and finishing two hours later in the evenings, because of her work load and the fact they needed more assistance around, especially when Detective Holbrook was out of town on temporary assignment, which gave Carly a huge benefit, she didn't have to feel paranoid at work or dread coming in to work to see him anymore.

Because of her long work hours, Carly and Jason had hardly seen each other as they liked. He would come over a couple times a week in the evenings and they got to spend the day together at least once every weekend. Despite the lack of time they were getting with each other, things hadn't changed between them. In fact, things had seemed to have gotten so much better.

They had been growing closer and closer together. Jason had started to open up to Carly slightly about what he had been up to during the three years they were apart, the reason why he had left college and took off instead of being in town. It felt good for her to hear how he had been really feeling. She had been waiting for him to open up to her, since she always felt like she was the only one doing the talking half the time. But it was a step in the right direction, onward's and upwards.

The panic attacks she had been experiencing weeks before had not been as frequent. A few days she felt jittery and on edge, but other times she felt good and happy at how her life had been going. Part of it was to do with her work and how most of her attention was focused on that, but she finally felt like she had that side of her life under control, even now she had Jason to help her through the days when she felt anxious.

With regards to the -A threats, it felt like since the police had been on Alison's radar at first for Bethany Young's murder and now they were pinning Mona's murder on her, the messages had suddenly come to an erupt stop. Part of her felt like she was the end, but if she knew Alison, she knew to not get her hopes up, there was still the possibility that the girl could throw another spanner into the works for her.

But she wouldn't let it tear her down so easily. That was if it even was Alison. Somehow Carly had began to think Holbrook had been behind the threats and now he was out of town, it was the whole reason they had gone quiet. She had every right to suspect him now after his behaviour with her, it felt like she was trying to solve her own cases, as well as the ones she was apart of at work.

But maybe they had been working together, Alison and Holbrook together. It sounded disturbing, but it somehow made sense. He had gone to her that day to find dirty on Carly. Plus she had learnt from Spencer, that on the night of the Ice Ball the DiLaurentis' held, Alison and Holbrook had been spotted being intimate. It grossed Carly out to say the least. But it gave her all the more reason to suspect the two.

Speaking of Spencer, Carly and her had seemed to also grow closer. It hadn't all been because of Melissa either. After they had talked at the charity ball, Spencer and Carly talked occasional on text with regards to Melissa, the -A text, Toby and just other random stuff. Carly had grown to like the girl. She was similiar to Melissa in ways, but also completely different. They somehow had bonded over the whole -A drama and Alison/Holbrook. It felt good that Carly had made a friend in Rosewood. Even though Jason was terribly confused at the two's friendship, since Spencer was his half sister and Carly was his...well...

They still hadn't decided what they were. Were they still seeing each other? Were they official now? Were they boyfriend and girlfriend? Were they just them? Were they just Carly and Jason?

To the outside world they were. But to each other, they were always more. Neither of them had brought out the topic of their relationship. But it was evident they were so not friends or just two people who were having some sort of fling for a few weeks. It was so much more than that. It was their little secret.

Back in Rosewood, it was the day of Mona Vanderwall's funeral. They still hadn't been able to charge anyone for the murder or been able to indefinity a body. Carly had gotten up for work, gotten ready and was already sat in her desk whilst the event went underway. Tanner and a few of the other cops had attended the funeral for security reasons, but also to show their regards to the victim and her family.

Carly had just finished filing away a number of reports she had been working on the past few days when Tanner and the cops returned back from the funeral. One of the cops happened to Toby, Spencer's boyfriend and the new cop Carly had met months back, before he had gotten injured with a broken leg and had to wait another couple of months until he could officially start. But it was good having another friendly face around the station, someone more her age and that she could talk to about things aside from work.

Stacking the files on top of each other, she was just moments away from picking them up and heading off to find Tanner when the sound of her cell phone ringing in her office stopped her.

Knowing she should have had it off or switched off, she sneakily went over to her bag and got the device out from it. The screen lit up with a name she had been surprised to hear from, especially because of what today was and because Carly happened to be at work, which she thought they would have known.

Quickly she went over to her office door and carefully closed it up, so she could have some privacy and take the call without getting into too much trouble. She doubted anyone would notice or mind anyway, since everyone was busy doing there own thing and would have probably thought it would have something to do with the case instead.

"Hello Spencer." Carly accepted the call, going back over to her desk and taking a seat down on her chair.

"Hi Carly." She heard the teenager greet back.

"I appreciate the call and all, but you do realise I am at work?" Carly told her, her eyes rolling over the window and checking if anyone could see her.

"I know, I'm sorry about that, but this is important," Spencer began telling her, an instant wave of nerves hitting Carly due to the seriousness in her friend's tone "Do you think you could come over after work?"

"I don't think I can," She answered, already feeling guilty and keeping her eyes on the window "I'm going round my Dad's for dinner. We haven't seen each other much lately, it's kind of been a pre-booked thing for weeks."

"Oh no that's fine," Spencer told her, Carly could clearly hear the girl was slightly disappointed "It doesn't matter."

Slowly climbing up from her chair, she began to walk across the other side of the room and found herself sighing, giving into the teenagers idea because if not the guilt would eat at her and plus she wanted to be there "I could try swing by after. It would be later though."

"You could?"

"Sure. Just don't expect me there anytime before 9pm." Carly answered with a slight laugh.

"No after 9 is great, thank you." Spencer assured her.

Stopping in her tracks, Carly ran her finger across one of the files she had laid out on Holbrook's side of the desk and she rubbed her lips together before asking "What's this all about?"

"Why do you think it's about something? Can't I invite you over?" Spencer tried to keep what was on her mind on the down low, try not to let Carly in on what she had been thinking and wanting from her, but of course the trainee detective would have some idea that something was wrong.

"If you wanted to invite me over, you would have probably waited until I was not at work and especially not have rang me right after you attend Mona's funeral, so what's happened?" Carly asked her, somewhat worriedly but also interested.

"I've been keeping something from you..." Spencer began uneasily, causing Carly's eyebrows to flick up quickly and her chest to tighten with anxiety.

"What is it?" She asked, hoping it wasn't something bad and what could get either of them in trouble.

Carly had already been taking so many risks with being with Jason and growing a friendship with Spencer, as well as all the other story she knew from the year leading up to when Alison disappeared. She couldn't quite deal with anymore secrets.

"We found a letter." Spencer told her.

"Who's we?" Carly questioned, wondering back over to her chair in the far end of the room, wanting to make sure no one could hear her at all due to how serious this conversation was getting "And what letter?"

"Hanna and I. The night of the Ice Ball. After Alison made her grand entrance, we headed over to her house to find some form of evidence, anything we could use to clear my name and prove that Bethany knew Alison." Spencer explained.

Carly felt her head shake in confusion and surprise at not only what the girl was telling her, but how risky it was for Carly to know and for Spencer to put her trust in someone who was also on the team, a team who was against Spencer and her friends.

"Spencer," Carly sighed, running her fingers over her hair in frustration that she had to be in the middle of this "Why are you telling me this? You basically just admitted to breaking into the DiLaurentis house. You do realise you telling me this can get you in trouble, right?"

"I know. But I trust you, Carly," Spencer admitted, knowing that she could trust the older girl with everything she had shared with her and was going to share with her, because unlike some of the team on the police, Carly actually had people's back and knew the reality of the world the police were obsessed with "I know you wouldn't go tell Tanner or Holbrook or anyone on the force anything I've just now said or what I'm going to say."

Carly knew Spencer was right. She wouldn't dare go say anything to any of them. Carly couldn't get Spencer into more trouble than she already was. She was already getting framed for Bethany Young's murder, which Carly knew had nothing to do with Spencer. It was Melissa's fault.

If Carly was to go to Tanner with what Spencer had just shared with her, it wouldn't be just Spencer being brought in for questioning. It would be Carly also. Tanner would want to know why Carly knew that Spencer had broken into the DiLaurentis property. Then the Lieutenant would start putting the pieces together and realise that Carly had more involvement with people on the case than before.

Another thing Carly had realised within the past few months was that she had made her mind up about where she stood on the team. As much as she wanted to claim closure for the victims and punish the guilty ones, Carly knew that what she wanted nothing more was for the people she cared about to be protected. She needed Jason to be procted. She needed Spencer to be protected. She needed Melissa to be protected. She needed Aria to be protected and she was sure she also would protect the other girls.

It was so wrong of her to go behind her bosses back. But she was already way into deep with this case even before she came back to Rosewood and got the job. It was probably silly of her to accept the case. She should have just told Tanner the truth right from the word go. But then there would have been the questions about her past and Carly still wasn't ready to open up about that. It had to stay hidden for now. Maybe one day she would have the guts to be honest and not care what people thought about her old ways.

"You're right, you can trust me." Carly reassured her, with a slight smile on her lips "So what's this letter you found? Was it at the DiLaurentis'?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about later," Spencer informed her, not wanting to say too much on the phone since she would much rather tell her in person "All I'm going to say is that this could really help clear my name. If we could work out someway to tell Tanner about Alison and Holbrook, then we can use the letter without anyone putting a stop to it."

"I see," Carly nodded, a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach about Holbrook and if she ratted him out, what he could also tell about her "so you want me to come over and think of ways to put a stop to Holbrook's job, is that what you're asking me?"

"Not in that such of a way, but something like that. C'mon Carly, you work with the guy, there must be something you can do, right?" Spencer suggested.

Carly felt her heart rate increase rapidly, knowing that there was something she could use to put Holbrook's job on the line and add more to the story of him being involved with Alison. But she was unsure of whether she wanted to break the deal she had agreed with her boss, since she was fearful Holbrook would go to Tanner with what he knew about Carly and her job would also be considered over right before it hardly had begun.

"I don't know, Spencer," Carly sighed "Can't we just talk about this later?"

She hated feeling like she was in the middle of it all and hated being selfish about it. But she couldn't risk things coming out about her. Her Dad would be mortified if the word got out about his goody toe shoes of a daughter. It wouldn't just put a dent in Carly's world, it would also ruin him and the family.

"Yes. Of course. My Dad's just turned up at the house, so I have to go." Spencer told her.

"Ok, I'll try come over later then." Carly said.

"Yes. I'll see you then," Spencer told her, before she quickly spoke up again trying to catch the girl before she ended the call "Oh and Carly! Speak to Toby. He knows about the letter."

"Ok. I will do. See you later." Carly ended the call, feeling frustrated that she was being selfish and letting the fear of judgement get in the way of helping out an innocent girl.

But she couldn't let it get her down or ruin her mood. She still had work to do. Plus a bunch of reports she needed to hand to Tanner. Her work came first. She would have to deal with what she was going to do about Spencer's offer later. Right now, she needed to get on with her job, what had been her main priority since coming back to town and everyday it seemed to becoming less and less of a priority to her with all the drama going on.

Tossing her phone back into her purse, she climbed up onto her feet and grabbed hold of the files that held her reports inside. Going over to the door, with her free hand, she opened up the door and stepped out into the lobby, making her way towards Tanner's office door, which was already and she had presumed the Leuitenant would have been outside.

Coming to a stop outside the Lieutenant's office, Carly found herself frowning when she didn't see Tanner sat at her desk. She could have sworn she saw her return back not that long ago and go inside her office.

How the hell did she miss her walk out?

Spinning around on her heel, she began to wonder down the hall, passing by offices that other cops and detectives were working hard inside. As she decended further down the corridor, the sound of voices and people talking could be heard from one of the rooms. When she got closer, she could just about make out the two voices. One a female that she recognised to be Tanner and another Toby, Spencer's boyfriend and one of the newest cops to join the station.

Her pace slowed down as she was only inches away from the door, she found herself stopping and leaning her back against the wall, trying to listen into the conversation that was going on between the two of them. She hated eavesdropping. But she couldn't help but listen in when she heard Spencer's name mentioned.

"...what you're looking for isn't there. It's here. The grounds for Spencer's arrest warrant, that was unsealed today. What convinced the judge was a statement from a witness. Someone who saw Spencer Hasting's in the DiLaurentis backyard with a girl, a blonde dressed in Alison's clothes, the night that Bethany was buried in that yard." She heard Tanner say.

"Who was the witness?" She heard Toby ask.

"Jessica Dilaurentis." Tanner told him.

Carly felt her eyes widen a little at the revelation. She had no idea that Spencer arrest warrant had been revealed today. That must have been the whole reason why her Dad had showed up at Spencer's place, to tell her what was going on and now Carly was finding out for herself.

"Mrs DiLaurentis saw Spencer in the backyard and told the police?" Toby guessed, it was a silent for a moment and Carly could only imagine Tanner had silently answered that one, before Toby proceeded "Where's the statement been for two years?"

"Where it has been is deliberately hidden in the files of the officer who took the statement, Darren Wilden." Tanner explained.

Darren Wilden. The name gave her the creeps. She knew of him way before he became a cop. He was another person she had met that year when she had gotten involved with Jason. The first time they had met, she knew that guy was trouble and that something about him was just strange. He was also another reason why she was so motivated to change the town's outlook of cops in this town. He was a clear example of a bad cop.

 ** _~ Summer 2009 ~_**

 _It was a couple of days into the break Jason had kindly invited her to Cape May for a few days out of her summer. Cape May is a beach party destination where most of the Rosewood party goers headed to every break, particularly in the summer and spring break. It was also just a few miles away from where Carly and Jason liked to adventure to alone in the evenings._

 _Things between them had recently been awkward, due to what had been going on between them. Jason had wanted to bring her along, so she could have the summer of her life before she went off to college, but he also hoped that a little trip away together, with a few of their closest friends, drinking, doing cool activities and hanging out would resolve a few of their issues._

 _So far things had been great. They had really began to feel like they were getting on again. The usual cuddling, joking around, teasing each other, sharing drinks and casual talking had become a regular thing all over again after weeks where things had been slightly awkward and sour._

 _There had also been the times, when they had both nearly lost their chill and given into the feelings they had developed between each other. It normally happened late at night, either when they were drunk or ended up alone. Jason was worst at the lack of self-control. He wanted to be with her so badly. But it hurt him how complicated things were and how it could never work._

 _Where as Carly hated how easy Jason could make her feel bad and want him more than she already did. She hated how it was between them. But it had to be this way. It would cause too much drama and a huge problem if they got together. It was better if they just stayed close friends and when Carly went off to college, maybe their feelings would die down, maybe they wouldn't feel anything for each other anymore._

 _They had just finished up getting ready for the day. Most of the teenagers and college students were heading down to the beach for a BBQ, some drinks and a dip in the sea. Jason's friend's were walking in front of Carly and Jason who were walking side by side, in silent but enjoying each other's company and Jason was doing his very best to avoid his eyes looking up and down the teenagers body beside him. He really did have to pull it together._

 _As they came towards the beach, a huddle of people were making their way back up the beach, the small trail they were wondering down through the high grass wasn't enough for the both groups to squeeze through together._

 _Whilst Jason and his friends decided to push through and past, just as the other group tried to do the same, clearly neither of them having much respect or manners to give way to the other. Carly due to being at the back of the line, found herself getting stuck in the middle of the trail and it wasn't long before she found herself stuck in the grass, without nothing else to do than let the other group pass through and hope that her friends would wait for her._

 _As a few girls brushed past her, she saw the footsteps of a guy who was wearing flip flops and someone in a pair of blue, white and grey striped swim shorts taking a stop beside her. Noticing he wasn't going to be moving anytime soon and had paused to look at her long enough, Carly brought her head up to come face to face with the stranger who had stopped._

 _The sandy brunette guy, with grey coloured blue eyes, a tall physique and a mischievous smirk on his face, rolled his eyes down the girl in front's body. Taking in the the white and red floral bikini that covered her private areas, the flatness of her tummy, with the slight peachiness to her breasts and slight curves of her waist, her legs were the average length and size, with her long wavy golden hair laying across either shoulder down her front and the minimal amount of make-up she had on her face._

 _"Oh sorry there cutie," He began, his eyes now meeting with her hazel green ones and the smirk on his face grew bigger "I don't think we've met before. I'm Darren."_

 _Feeling awkward and slightly uncomfortable at how he was looking at her, as well as how he seemed way older than she was, she found her cheek's flushing slightly and a dry feeling to form in her throat, wanting nothing more than to run away from this guy._

 _"Carly." She introduced simply, folding her arms across her chest and uneasily looking back up at him._

 _"Hey! Carly!" Jason yelled from down the other end of the trail, he was now stood just a few inches away from the sand and was looking back at the girl worriedly to see her talking with Darren Wilden "Carly! C'mon."_

 _He couldn't stand that guy. He needed him to get away from her as soon as possible._

 _Glancing over at Jason, Carly found a sigh of relief escape her lips to see him there and more importantly looking out for her. Before she go the chance to get away from Darren and catch up to Jason, Darren sparked up conversation with her again after he saw Jason looking over at them unimpressed._

 _"Oh so you know Jason, huh? Jason DiLaurentis." Darren guessed, raising his brows and nodding his head over to the guy in the distance._

 _Darren knew if he could Carly to stay around to talk to him as long as possible, then it would sure as hell cause some sort of frustration to come from the DiLaurentis guy. He was so easy to wind up and he could already tell by how Jason kept calling Carly that he was overprotective of the girl._

 _"Uh yeah, I do." Carly told him, looking between Jason and Darren._

 _"I don't remember you from our school years..." Darren told her._

 _"I wasn't around when you were there." Carly turned to look at him properly now._

 _"Oh you weren't? You're new to the scene then?"_

 _"Something like that." She smiled awkwardly at him._

 _Carly really didn't want to tell him that she had just finished high school a couple of weeks ago. It never went down well. She couldn't have another person call her 'Little Monroe'._

 _"Carly! C'mon!" Jason called again, feeling his anger grow more and more. If she was going to come over, then he sure as hell would match over to them and drag her to the beach himself, whilst cursing at Darren._

 _"I can see that Jason's got you on a well kept leash." Darren joked._

 _"It's not like that," She tried to tell him, when he raised his brows up at her and shook his head with a chuckle, which made Jason not the only one annoyed by the older guys behaviour, but also Carly now and it was time for her to leave "I should go."_

 _"Well it was nice talking to you, I'm Darren, remember that," He told her with a charming smile, before he laid his hand lightly on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze "See you later, cutie."_

 ** _~ End of Flashback ~_**

The sound of an office door opposite to where she was standing broke her out of her day dream and she quickly stood more up right. The cop who had now appeared at the door, gave her a strange look, wondering why she was just stood there and not making any attempt of moving.

Quickly assured him with a light smile, making it out like she was just on her way inside the office and not stood there gawking. Nodding at her, the cop passed by and headed towards the foyer, causing Toby's eyes to roll out towards the window and his eyes instantly met with Carly's, who was now more situated in the door way of the office and knew that her time spent eavesdropping was now over. She had to make her appearance.

Upon seeing Toby's eyes flash over to behind her, Tanner slowly turned her body round and was also met by the sight of Carly stood in the door frame. She frowned slightly when she saw her trainee detective there, but her face relaxed more when Carly took a step inside and greeted the both of them with a warm smile.

"U-uh sorry for interrupting," She apologised shakily, before she cleared her throat and tired to get it together "I swung by your office and you weren't inside. So I came looking for you. I've got the reports you wanted."

Carly awkwardly took a step forward and handed them over to the Lieutenant, "Great, thank you." Tanner took the files from her grasp and held them tightly in her own arms instead.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" the older lady questioned, upon seeing Carly still stood there in the office with her and the other cop.

"U-uh," Carly's eyes ever so slightly rolled over to Toby and then back onto Tanner "Yes there was actually. Detective Holbrook. Do you have any idea when he's coming back?"

"Why?" Tanner raised her eyebrows suspiciously as Toby also leaned forward in his seat slightly intrigued by this, somehow something clicked in him that maybe Carly knew what Spencer and the rest of them knew about Detective Holbrook's behaviour recently "Are you missing him?"

"Oh god, um, I" Carly laughed awkwardly, shaking her head and giving Tanner a reassuring smile "I was just wondering when he was due back."

"He's not due back until another few weeks, Miss Monroe." Tanner informed her.

"Oh, ok. Thanks," Carly nodded her head, before taking a small step backwards "Sorry again for interrupting the two of you."

"W-wait just a second, Miss Monroe." Tanner told her, not wanting her to leave just yet.

Carly stopped dead in her tracks. An instant wave of worry fell over her. Did Tanner know that she had been stood there eavesdropping this whole time? Or maybe there was more to the story, did she know more than she was letting on about Holbrook?

"Yes, Lieutenant Tanner?" Carly asked, clasping her hands together.

"What do you think?" The older woman asked.

"What do I think about what?" Carly repeated, slightly confused at what Tanner was asking from her and what she had missed in the conversation whilst her mind had been drifting back to the past.

"Well Spencer Hasting's arrest warrant got unsealed today. We found out that a statement from Jessica DiLaurentis convinced the Judge to issue the arrest. It had been missing the past two years, one of the old detectives on the case, Darren Wilden had hid it during the investigation," Tanner explained to her, mentioning the parts Carly had heard but also the parts she had missed "Toby and I were just discussing why Wilden would hide the statement, but also why did Jessica never tell anyone else about what she knew. So, what do you think?"

The two's eyes fell on her, both interested and Tanner more importantly using this as a test to see if Carly really did understand this job, but also was right for this job. If she could give a good enough theory, then Tanner was sure as hell knew that this girl was one of a kind, just like her mother was and she knew that her two main Detectives, Holbrook and Carly would be going head to head.

Titling her head to the side for a moment, Carly folded her arms and thought back to the case, as well as this new information Tanner had just informed her about. She knew that there was possible connections between evidence they already had and ones she could use for her own theory.

"I think that Wilden told someone else about the statement. Someone who would want it to go away, so Spencer never got in trouble. Someone paid him to keep the statement hidden and to keep Mrs DiLaurentis quiet." Carly suggested.

"How do you suppose he could do that?" Tanner asked with raised brows.

"Well, Bethany Young was a patient at Radley and Mrs DiLaurentis happened to be on the board." Carly backed up her theory.

"And she had an affair with Bethany's father." Toby added.

"Yeah, so that's probably where the two met." Carly continued.

Giving the two of her newbies a look, somewhat impressed by their theory and surprised how well they seemed to be working together, she shone a light smile at them both "It always seems to lead back to Radley, doesn't it?"

Flashing her the same look, Tanner leaned up from the desk she had been situated on and made her way towards the exit of the door, before she stepped out of it and headed back towards her office. Carly's reports stacked in her hand and the impressed feeling still burning inside of her regarding her two newest faces at the station.

"Where's Detective Holbrook?" Toby asked once Tanner was out of sight, coming round to stand in front of his desk and looking across at Carly.

"He's out of town on a temporary assignment." She answered him.

Silence fell on the pair. Both of them itching to ask each other questions regarding particular things, but mainly centring around one topic in particular. Spencer. But Toby was unsure whether he could trust Carly since she was so focused on becoming a Detective and impressing Tanner. He knew Spencer and her had been talking, but could he put his faith in her like his girlfriend had so willingly?

Looking over at him for what felt like the tenth time, she had to stopping being and just get on with it, she plucked up the courage and spoke out what had been playing on her mind in a quiet tone "What's this letter all about then?"

"Sorry?" Toby asked confused that she was aware, but also trying to make it out like there was no such thing as a letter if she was going to use it for other intentions that didn't help Spencer.

"The letter? The one Hanna and Spencer found at the DiLaurentis house," Carly began, but Toby just stared back at her puzzled, but once she found herself sighing at his odd and difficuilt behaviour, she continued on with the hope he would actually talk to her "Spencer called me not that long ago. She mentioned something about a letter. It could help clear her name and put Alison in the frame."

Looking over at her, he nodded his head and wondered over to the door, where he closed it and turned back round to face her. It would be a lot easier if they could talk privatly and not have the whole of the station listening into this top secret information.

"You're right. I should have known Spencer would call you." Toby told her, slightly annoyed that Spencer was so eager to get Carly on their side.

"Is that a problem?" Carly asked, surprised at his behaviour with her.

She always thought Toby liked her. But things had been odd between them ever since Spencer had got arrested in the Brew that day. Toby had demanded her help. But whilst she was off duty and still a trainee, there wasn't much she could do for him.

"I don't know, you tell me," He suggested, walking back over to his desk and facing her with folded arms "Can we trust you to not go run to Tanner with this information? Can we trust you that you're not going to turn your back on us when things get tough? Can we trust you?"

"Yes," She answered quickly and honestly, "You can trust me. Spencer does. I was fairly close friends with Melissa a few years ago. That's kind of the whole reason why Spencer and I started talking."

"That doesn't reassure me in the slightest." Toby told her.

Carly shook her head, knowing why Toby would act that way about that "I know. But I'm nothing like Melissa. Trust me. When Melissa left town, she made me promise her that I would do my almost to protect Spencer. So I tried. But then she got arrested and my attempts before hand were useless and never worked, because Spencer didn't want my help and never accepted it. But recently, she has and she knows not to over step the line because of my job. She knows how much this position means to me. But, what she wants from me, I'm not so sure I can quite give it to her."

"Why not?" Toby questioned.

"Because it would be risky..."

"Isn't it already risky by talking to Spencer?"

"Maybe," Carly shrugged, biting her bottom lip down nervously "But she wants me to try persuade Tanner that there really is something going on between Alison and Holbrook."

"And why can't you? To me it sound's like you have proof that there is."

"Spencer told me they were kissing at the Ice Ball."

"But there's something else." He guessed, now coming to stand just a few inches away from her and staring hard at her, like if he did long enough she would break and she hated how guys always did that to her to let her give in to them.

But it wasn't going to work.

"Why do you say that?" She asked him.

"It's evident on your face. You're not the only cop in this room right now."

Looking away from him, she rubbed her lips together and glanced down at the floor below her deep in thought.

Was it really that obvious that she was hiding something? Did she need to work on how she communicated with people and how swerved away from her past, as well as the secrets she knew? Plus how did Toby even know she was keeping something?

He was a better cop than her and she had been here longer than him.

Shaking her head at her negative thoughts, she turned to look back at him and knew what she had to do "Whatever I know it's not going to help you. Tanner would trust Holbrook over me any day. But more importantly, she goes by her own opinion and what she thinks is right. Whatever anyone says, she'll always know how to respond and has some sort of theory as to why someone has done something. If I went to Tanner and told her I suspect Holbrook and Alison, she wouldn't listen. She wouldn't care. Because it's that Tanner only wants one thing."

"And that is?" Toby said curiously.

Standing up straight, Carly turned her body slightly to face the door, knowing that this conversation had to end before it got in to deep. She couldn't have Toby question her more. As the days went by, it felt like more and more people were getting suspicious about her, as well as this past she held back.

"You need to be careful. All of you. Not just Spencer and Alison. The whole lot of you. If Tanner is so evident on making the girls pay for what's gone on in this town. Then so is Holbrook. Maybe even more. I have seen him do whatever it takes to get what he wants. You don't want to be on the other end of that," Carly explained to him, knowing she would be having the same conversation with Spencer later "I'm not here to ruin anyone's life. I'm not here to punish Spencer or any of the girls. I came here to do my job. I came here to give justice to the victims who get messed up in all of this. But somehow, in the mist of it all I've gotten way more involved than I ever intended. I'm not the bad guy here Toby. But Holbrook is. Tanner can't see that. But you can. You can help Spencer more than you can think being on this team now. But it's how you decide to help that can ruin it all."

Toby fell silent at her words, unsure of how to even respond to what she was saying, partly because he still wasn't sure he trusted her, but more importantly he couldn't help but feel like she had some sort of point. Tanner only wants the girls to be punished. Holbrook would do anything to aid that and with Alison thrown into his mix, then this is exactly what the three of them all want, to see Spencer and the girls suffer.

"Tell Spencer we talked." Carly told him one last time, before she grabbed hold of the door handle and left the office, exhaustion and anxiety trembling through her body as she did so.

She knew that what just happened in there was only the beginning of more and more secrets, lies and risks she was going to have to keep making. The truth never did stay hidden. Just like the sun and the moon. But Carly would do anything to keep it hidden for as long as possible.

There were other ways to help Spencer. More legal ways. Ways that didn't have to put a risk to her own past coming out and haunting her.

But they just had to find out how.

* * *

 **Author note: I do apologise to every one of you who wants to still read this story and I hope you can forgive me for not uploading in so long. I don't have any other explanation than life got in the way and I lost interest in writing this story. But I thought since the new season had started up, I would try upload the parts I already have written for you guys, so I'm not keeping parts from you guys.**

 **As I said, I've lost my passion for this story. But with the new season and maybe some encouragement from you guys, maybe I'll be able to fall back in love with Good Girl Gone Bad.**

 **I don't know. But I hope you guys are all well and enjoy this lengthy part.**

 **Thanks so much,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	34. The Alibi

**The Alibi:**

After an afternoon and early evening spent running errands for Tanner and doing some of Holbrook's work load that he was unable to do since being out of town. Carly left the station just before 7pm that same day.

The exhaustation she had felt earlier was still running through her body and she wanted nothing more than to go home, have a shower and climb into bed to sleep for the rest of the night. But she knew that she still had so much to do. She had to go see her Dad, have dinner with him like they planned and then go over to see Spencer.

Lucky for her though, the anxiety she had felt from earlier on in the day had been replaced with determination. Determination to help Spencer as much as she could, but also help herself to keep that past of hers at bay. There was only a certain few who knew about Carly's past. There was others who were suspicious of it. But there was others who had no idea what Little Monroe got up to after dark.

Some could have seen it as selfish for keeping what she knew about Holbrook to herself. The right thing to do would be to tell Spencer that she had more proof that Alison and Holbrook had been in talks outside of the station. But it would risk certain areas of her old life coming out. She would have to talk about the tape. She would have to share her past habits and behaviours. She would have to explain why she lied about it all.

She couldn't do that.

Spencer trusted her. But Carly didn't trust her completely. It felt like recently, Carly had lost her faith in trusting people. Ever since Holbrook had portrayed her with the tape, she felt like whoever she befriended was somehow out to get her. Maybe, she was just being way too paranoid. But this wasn't some game to her. This was her life. She couldn't have Holbrook or Alison or anyone for that matter trying to ruin her.

She was grateful that she heading to her Dad's that evening for dinner. Because it gave her time to think about what she was going to do and say when she was going to go see Spencer. But it also meant she could just chill out and enjoy herself, a slight distraction from the constant world of the case she was being sucked into in and out of work.

Her Dad was oblivious to it all and for just an hour or so, Carly could be also.

Taking her plate off the kitchen island where her Dad had served up their meal, she wondered through into the dining room, with him trailing behind her and she took a seat down on one end of the table whilst he sat down at the other.

Pulling out her napkin, she laid it across her lap and grabbed her cutlery, just as her Dad did the same. They both began to tuck into the meal they were having, it was one of Carly's favourite stir fry her Dad had been cooking for her the past few years. It beat a lot of the quick oven based meals she cooked for herself when she got in for work. It was nice to come here and have a proper home cooked meal.

"That is just what I have been wanting all day." Carly told her Dad with a smile, digging her fork back into the food and eating more.

John returned the smile, before he lifted his head up more to look at her "Hard day at work?"

"Hard few months," She laughed lightly after swallowing, "Now I know why you were always so tired when you came in from work. I feel bad that I always use to beg you to come help me with my homework or come play outside me. All you probably wanted to do was sleep."

"You're right," He chuckled, "But I would have picked hanging out with you over sleep any day," Carly smiled across at him, loving that even know she was older she still had a great relationship with her Dad, they really did look out for each other "It's a tough life, huh?"

"Yeah, but it's what I have always wanted, ya know?" Carly shrugged, as her Dad stopped eating and listened to her properly "To be a Detective. so I can't complain really. I have to really stop complaining about it."

Smiling lightly at her, he laid his cutlery down onto his plate and grabbed hold of his glass of water "How are you, Carl's? I mean, really?" She looked across at him confused, yet somewhat scared that he had picked up on her nerves and exhaustion from what had been going on recently, "You look tired. Have you been sleeping ok?"

"Yeah, I have been sleeping fine," answered him honestly. She really had, especially the nights with Jason there. She never wanted to get out of bed in the mornings and leave. "It's just work. I'm so busy and everything's crazy. It tires you out."

"I see," John hummed, not sure he was buying his daughters story, but he knew not to push her, if there was something wrong with her, regarding her anxiety or anything else, then she would come to him in her own time "Talking of work, how's Detective Holbrook? I haven't seen him around town the past few days."

"Um..." Carly suddenly felt uncomfortable at the mention of her so called friend, if only her Dad knew what had been going on between the two of them, he wouldn't have been so interested to find out more about the guy "He's out of town. On a temporary assignment. I don't know what it's for, but I can only presume it's top secret."

"Oh," Her Dad replied surprised, "I thought he would have told you?"

"Nope," she rubbed her lips together, "We don't really see each other much anymore, with him out of town or the station most of the time and I'm working like a headless chicken."

"That's a shame. I thought you two were a team," He said with a slight disappointment in his voice, before he began to tuck into his food again and Carly awkwardly laughed opposite him, wanting this conversation to end and move forward "So when did you last spend time with him? Was it before New Year?"

"Um. I don't know," Carly answered, dropping her cutlery down on her plate in annoyance and leaning in her seat curiously at what her Dad was up to "Please tell me where the hell you are going with this. Because if you're still convinced that we're going to get together, I will seriously get up and leave now."

John quickly held up his hands in defence, "I'm just speaking from what I've witnessed."

"From what you've witnessed?" Carly repeated, raising her brows up at him "Or maybe from what you've heard? Have you and Brooke been talking again? Because when I was in New York, she mentioned Holbrook," she paused, "again. So maybe you are still discussing my love life?"

John couldn't help but smirk at his daughters attitude towards him, he somehow reminded him of when she was a teenager and went through her first few years of having a bad attitude towards him, like every teenager goes through, including himself.

"Well is there a love life?" John asked.

"Unbelievable..." Carly grumbled, through gritted teeth and grabbed hold of her glass, taking a long swig of the liquid.

It wasn't just the fact that her Dad was still clung onto the idea of her being with Holbrook. It was also the fact that he had to bring up her love life. The love life that had brought an old face back into again. The same old face that her Dad detested. This dinner just made it a whole lot worse for how she was feeling. She couldn't stand lying to him. But it was the only way for her to be happy.

"I'm just interested, Carly," John tried to tell her, get her to see his reasoning "You're twenty one years old. You should be out there."

Carly rolled her eyes at his statement, realising how judgemental that really did sound, but she was use to it when it came to her Dad "A twenty one year old who's Dad is trying to set her up with one of her bosses, despite however many times she has told him nothing is going on between them and nothing ever will."

"Ok..." John gave up, shaking his head and trying to get her to calm down, he couldn't have her start an argument again and walk out, he really did have to learn to not over step it "But who's men's clothes were lying round your place?"

"What?" Carly blinked in horror yet shock.

She clearly knew the answer. But her Dad didn't have to know.

"Well when you were in New York, I went to check on the apartment every couple of days, make sure things were ok and I ordered you in some food for when you got back. I found some men's clothing lying round the place. I thought it might have belonged to a particular detective." John teased her, raising his brows up misheviously.

"Men's clothes?" Carly repeated, shaking her head and trying to act normal about it, like it was no big deal that her Dad was there and could have seen Jason anytime, how risky was everything getting for them? "Are you sure they weren't just mine? You know I like big oversized sweaters to chill out in?"

"No I'm sure these were men's clothes," He assured her, noticing the way her face suddenly dropped slightly and she began to rub her lips together, one of the nervous habits she did, John knew she was keeping something from him, but he couldn't work out just what or whom yet "Who's the guy, Carly? I'm interested to find out who's got you so flushed."

"Dad, there is no one." She tried to tell him.

A thick lumped formed in her throat. God, she hated lying to him so badly. But could she really deal with him ruining her chances of being with Jason all over again?

No! Definitly no. Not when things between them had been going so well. It would only cause her more drama. Right now, Jason and Her Dad were the only two things in her life that weren't full of drama. She would do anything to keep them that way.

"Really?"

"Why? Don't you believe me?"

"I'm not so sure." John told her.

"Dad. Please." Carly sulked, just wanting this subject to over with and the guilt she felt to just vanish from her, she hated lying to him, but it was for the best right now, he had to drop it "Stop this. It's silly."

John shook his head, a light sighing following shortly after "I just want you to be happy, Carl's."

"I am happy," She admitted honestly with a smile, that grew bigger and bigger "I'm so happy. See!"

John couldn't help but break into a light chuckle, shaking his head in amusement at his daughters behaviour, knowing she was right and that he had to drop it, but one last time, he needed to know "But isn't there someone who is making you feel that way?"

"Yes," Carly answered, before pointing her finger towards him "You do, Dad."

Beaming across at her, he nodded his head at her and gave in, knowing that she would be honest in her own time, "C'mon. Let's just eat."

"Finally." She muttered under her breath, a small giggle escaping her lips as she did so and her Dad shot her playful glare, before they both began to tuck back into their food.

Carly realised how close that was then to her Dad finding out about Jason. Just by the state of her apartment, he was already suspecting that there someone else living there with her and one of a male kind. Now she knew her Dad came by her apartment when she wasn't in or out of town, she knew that she had to make sure Jason and her were extra careful. They could be busted at any moment, especially now he was hot on her heel about suspecting her being with someone else.

But for now. She was going to make sure he never found out.

Around an hour later, Carly hopped back into her Car and began her next journey. From her Dad's knowledge, he had presumed she was heading home after they had finished up there and he had left for work a few minutes before. He had given her the chance to collect a few of her old boxes from her room and put them in the back of her car to take home with her, meaning she had to lock up the house for him.

Of course, her next journey was to Spencer's house much to her Dad's awareness. But she had promised the girl earlier she would go round to see her after she had finished dinner with her Dad. In order to keep the girl's trust and purely because she really did care, Carly pulled up outside the Hasting's property around 10 minutes later.

Her eyes instantly trailed over to the DiLaurentis property, where she knew the one guy she wanted to see and be with would be, probably just having gotten in from work and now making himself some dinner. It was also likely he would be waiting her call or some form of video message for when she got back from her Dad's.

But Jason had no idea that the girl he was waiting to hear from was actually next door, going to talk with his half-sister about her arrest and anyway that she could help get Holbrook kicked off the team to save Spencer. She knew that if Jason knew right now what she was up to, he would come running out of his house and try to stop her. He didn't want her to be putting any more of her job at risk. But she knew what she was doing wasn't all bad.

If helping Spencer meant giving Holbrook the punishment he deserved for trying to get dirt on her and threaten her with it, then so be it. She had every right to want to get him off the team and for Tanner to realise what kind of Detective she had working on her force. One that went to teenage girls to find old gossip about his new partner, as well as who he went to for personal endorsements.

Turning her head away from the house, she focused her attention on the task at hand and made her way towards the Hasting's gate that separated the two houses. After ringing the buzzer a few times, Spencer let her through and waited for inside the house.

Once Carly arrived at the back door, she stepped into the home and the both of them wondered through into the kitchen/sitting room space, just like they did the last time Carly had turned up here to help her out. Only this time it didn't' concern Melissa. It actually concerned the younger sister of the Hasting's.

"Sorry I would have been here a lot sooner, but I was putting some boxes from my old room into my car to take home with me." Carly told her, laying her keys down onto the surface and turning to face Spencer who was stood across from her around the island.

"It's ok. I would have waited up for you anyway." Spencer assured her.

Smiling lightly across at her, Carly folded her arms across her chest and responded to the girl "Your parent's not home?"

"No. My Dad's still living with Melissa. He came to visit though today. And my Mom's still out working." Spencer explained.

"I see." Carly nodded, before she lowered her head slightly and found an awkward tension fall over the pair.

"Toby told me that you two talked." Spencer broke the silence.

"Yeah we did." Carly shone a tight smile in her direction, knowing how awkward and tense the situation had been with Toby earlier today.

"He mentioned that you might know something that could potentially help," Spencer began, Carly felt her chest tighten and her stomach drop her words, knowing that this would happen and that she would be more pressured to confess her past to those who needed her help, Spencer could already pick up on this "but he said it's seem's like you were reluctant to say."

"I was." Carly confirmed.

"Why? Is it because of Tanner? I understand if you don't want to share what you know because of your job. I'm not asking you to go against your boss. I just want you to know that if you know something that could help me, then please come forward and help. I need all the help I can get against Alison. She's taking us all down, one by one and I'm clearly next on her hit list." Spencer rambled to her, it was clear in her voice that she was desperate and worried about what Alison could do to her.

It was the exact same feeling Carly felt towards the girl, as well as Holbrook. The two of them would go to any lengths to get what they wanted. Alison would make Holbrook do whatever and he would do it. Carly had already seen that happen once. She didn't want to have to see it again.

But she didn't have the guts or the power within her to confess what Holbrook did to her. It wasn't that she was scared what he would do next. But it was more the fact she was so worried what other people would think of her. She had been brought up to always be aware of your actions, your behaviour and the decisions you make.

Her past went totally against everything she had been taught. Her past didn't fit into that way of living. Her past was fill of bad actions, reckless behaviour and careless decisions. Everything her Dad hated. He never wanted her to go back to that. He never wanted any of the residents of the town to ever find out. It was a truce they made together, to keep it quiet from everyone and it was the best choice she had ever made.

The fear of judgement was overriding the chance of her helping Spencer. All she could do was watch from the side lines and subtly hint about what type of person Alison and Holbrook were.

There was also Jason. She hated that she was now going against his sisters back. But it was all with good reasons. She would be honest with him. This was there first official shop to make things right. Honesty is one of the main parts of a relationship and Carly wasn't going to waste her chances with him. If he wanted to know, she would tell him. If she wanted him to know, she would tell him.

"I know. I am sorry that this is happening to you, to you and your friends. Alison always seems to get what she wants. But not this time. I'll try make sure of it." Carly tried to reassure her, but more importantly herself.

"How?" Spencer asked curiously, she could feel the tears in her eyes, but she didn't want to break down in front of her sister's friend.

"Holbrook. He might have threatened me once," Carly confessed in a quiet tone "something that could have made me lose my job. He went to Alison to get the dirt on me."

"So they have been working together?" Spencer guessed, knowing her theory was right all along and with what Carly knew, they could actually be on to something here.

"Yes." She nodded back.

"Why does Alison have dirt on you and why would Holbrook want you off the team?" Spencer asked, the curiosity getting the better of her.

Carly's eyes rolled to the ground, uncertainty of how much more she could say about what she knew and how much of her past she could spill, "Holbrook see's me as a threat. A threat to his job and his with Tanner. "

"So he used what Alison know's about you to try get you kicked off the team?" Spencer presumed, which Carly silently confirmed with a look across at the teenager and Spencer put the pieces together, "Because Alison always has something on someone."

Spencer stares long and hard at the older girl opposite her, trying to figure out why Alison would have information on Carly. It was similiar to the same suspicion and confusion Spencer had the first time Carly came over to help. She knew that there was more to the girl than she could ever had thought. Somewhere along the way, Carly had her own secrets that she was keeping from the people around her and Spencer could already guess there was only a select few who knew.

One of them being Alison, another being Melissa and there was the possibility of Jason also knowing about the girl. Spencer began to wonder whether Carly was around a lot more than she had originally thought back in the day. She knew Cary was close to her older sister, but could she have been friends with Jason and his friends also?

But she had always known Carly as a good girl. Someone who concentrated on school and would never be caught with the likes of Jason and his friends. Her Dad was well respected in town, just like his daughter was made out to be. Everyone had always known her to be the good girl.

However as the theory grew more and more, Spencer thought back to a time when Alison use to complain about one girl, who went to their school, she was a senior and always seemed to be clung to Jason's side. It use to anger Alison. Spencer remembered the times when Alison use to come over in a frustrated mood than usual, where she would ranting about some girl who couldn't stay away from Jason and how selfish it was that the girl was trying to break up Jason's relationship.

At the time, Spencer and the other girls had thought nothing of it, but as Carly came more and more into Spencer's life, she began to wonder whether the girl Alison had been talking about was Carly. It would make sense since Carly was a senior at the time and there was clearly some connection between Jason and Carly. Maybe Carly had been apart of this all way sooner than her first day of work.

Spencer could see the fear in Carly's eyes and face, whenever she would ask more questions or hint about something concerning Carly, she could tell that the girl was hiding something and that there was concern chewing away at her. The teenager didn't want to have to be the one to make that worse for her. She didn't want to have to make Carly do or say something she didn't. She wouldn't do that. Because she knew that feeling too well. The least she could do was make Carly know she could trust her, just like Spencer could trust her too.

"If we can't tear down Holbrook, then there is another way." Spencer spoke up, breaking the silence for the second time that night and alerting Carly's attention over to the teen.

"And that is?" Carly asked interested, the fearful look was instantly replaced with one of curiosity.

"Well the police obviously questioned Alison after Mona's body was found, just like they questioned us, they also questioned our family and friends to build the case further, to see if we're being truthful about our where's about's and so on. I don't know why I'm telling you this, when I'm pretty sure you've read all about it," Spencer explained, Carly nodding her head slowly, knowing that most of her reports lately had been analysing the interviews and trying to conclude the information "so if our families were questioned, then surely Alison's were too."

Carly felt her chest tighten at Spencer's words, knowing full well that the girl was right and who exactly in Alison's family had given statements to the police over the thanks giving break.

"Maybe we go to Alison's alibi and get them to come forward with the truth." Spencer suggested, in a powerful and determined tone.

The older girl's eyes widened slightly, she mentally kicked herself for giving away her anxiety too easily, but she couldn't help it. Carly knew who the two people were who were giving Alison alibis. Jason and Kenneth DiLaurentis. They were both questioned and had told the police that Alison was with them the night before thanksgiving.

However Carly knew that was far from the truth. Jason hadn't even been at home on the night Mona was murdered. He had been with her, at her apartment, comforting her after her horrible confrontation with Holbrook and then they had ended up in bed together, having sex and not even having a care in the world, only focusing their attention on each other.

Of course, Jason could have never had told the police he wasn't at home that night with his family, because really he had been in bed with the trainee detective who was assigned to the case. It would have looked so wrong and so suspicious. He had to lie. He had to lie to save Carly's ass, as well as his sister's. Even though he didn't want to after what he had found out about Alison working with Holbrook, he had to lie for Carly's sake.

She was so glad that she wasn't the one in charge of looking after Jason's and Kenneth's questioning. It would have been way too much stress for her to deal with and would have caused even more problems with her trying to keep her balance. Everything in her life was already one big risk, another thing thrown into the mess would have caused more trouble for them all.

Carly didn't want to have to spell it out to Spencer who the alibi's included. It could have been just Kenneth. But it could have been just Jason. Or it could have been the both of them. She didn't want to have to say because of her job. But more importantly, she didn't want to have to go behind Jason's back anymore than she already was by being here with Spencer and discussing ways to take down Alison.

But Spencer already knew by the look on Carly's face, that the alibi included a certain DiLaurentis son. One that Spencer was convinced had something going on with the trainee. Carly had given it away too easily. But when it came to Jason, she couldn't help but act weak and flustered. It had always been that way.

"What were you doing the night before thanksgiving?" Spencer asked her.

"Um...I was just at home." She told her awkwardly.

It wasn't a lie, she had been at home, but she had been with a certain guy also.

Spencer lent her body against the kitchen island, knowing her next question was going to push things further, but they were in the right direction of getting Carly to open up and know that she could trust Spencer "And Jason?"

Carly awkwardly laughed under her breathe, folding her arms across her chest again and raising her eyebrows up at the girl, trying to act innocent and confused "What about him?"

"Where was he?" Spencer pressed.

"How should I know?" Carly scoffed.

"I thought since you two were close..." Spencer trailed off, before Carly quickly cut in and stopped her.

"Who told you that?"

"No one," Spencer answered, Carly's brows raised higher in confusion, but Spencer knew the girl was trying way too hard to cover up her involvement with Spencer's half brother "I just presumed from the last time you were here."

"Why would you think that?" Carly asked, tucking her hair behind her ear nervously, knowing she was slowly getting busted.

"Because I saw the message he sent you that day," Spencer replied, Carly felt her stomach drop slightly, she had been hoping Spencer hadn't thought much of it, but clearly she had "I'm also presuming it was him who called you also that day."

Carly couldn't help but break out into an uncomfortable laugh, knowing full well that Spencer knew way too much already and that there was somehow no one out of this mess she had stupidly created for herself.

Maybe she should just be honest. It wasn't like Spencer would go tell the whole world what was going on between Jason and Carly. She wasn't friend's with Alison and she needed Carly on her side in terms of the police. But was the time right for someone to find out about them?

"Look you don't have to tell me anything. It's fine. Thanks for coming over." Spencer stood back up straight, heading towards the back door of her home and knowing she had over stepped the mark.

"Spencer..." Carly sighed, following her out of the kitchen/living space and over to the door feeling guilty.

"It's ok, Carly. I shouldn't have to drag you into this. I appreciate your help." The teenager told her, her hand lingering on the door.

"Toby doesn't." Carly half smiled, standing opposite her.

"He will in time," She assured her, unlocking the door and pushing it open, before Carly slipped past her "But thank you though."

"No problem," Carly nodded, stepping outside and turning back round to face her "Sorry I'm not much help."

"You've done more than enough." Spencer replied sincerely.

Carly couldn't help but feel guilty about this. She wished her concern about her past wasn't preventing her from helping Spencer. Her promise to Melissa was hardly working with her poor attempts.

She shone her a tight smile, before she turned her head slightly to look behind her and back on Spencer again "I guess I'l see you around, call me if you need anything."

Spencer nodded lightly, returning the smile the girl was showing her and watching her wonder down the back path, heading towards the gate that Spencer had left open for Carly to leave out of.

Once Carly was back outside to her car, the gate rolled shut and her eyes instantly wondered back over to the DiLaurentis house. The lights were on. Jason's car was still parked outside, as well as his fathers and Carly could only presume Alison might have been there too.

She wished with every fibre in her that she could just wonder over and see him. How she do anything to be a normal couple, without all this sneaking around and having to be a part from each other. Yet it was too much of a risk. It was better this way if they kept it private and between them. It added that extra excitement. But also ensured happiness between them without anyone getting in the way.

Lowering her head sadly, she turned back round and headed over to the drivers side of her car. With her keys, she unlocked the vehicle and slipped into the seat. Closing the door behind herself, before she reversed away from the house and turned back onto the track, heading back towards her home, knowing that her time to see Jason would come another time.

If her life was slowly starting to turn into her mess, then it clearly had nothing on the living room space of her apartment that following morning. She had woken up early after climbing straight into bed after Spencer's last night and keeping to her usual bed time schedule, her body clock had woken her up in time for work.

However today she was working the later shift, meaning she wasn't due in till lunch and had the morning free. She had decided on bringing the boxes that she had got from her Dad's last night, inside her apartment and she was now going through them, sorting out old school documents, reports, photographs and other memories from her teen years.

Most of the contents from the four boxes she had brought out was spread over the floor, on the couch and on the coffee table, where her bowl of half-eaten cereal and empty coffee mug sat beside it all.

Carly was sat cross legged on the rug, her hands burring deep into one of the boxes, pulling out a range of items and looking through a cluster of photographs from her early teen years. A happy smile was present on her face as she was reminded of all her past times, when she was an innocent thirteen year old, who was obsessed with reading crime novels and playing out in the street with her friends.

The memories that were captured in the photographs or old diaries she use to write in, were being kept in her apartment and the other little bits and pieces she didn't want were going to go to charity. It felt like the best option to start having a clear out of some of her old things since her Dad wouldn't be living in their family home forever. There would come a time when he would retire and downsize the home.

She had been so busy focusing all her attention and allowing her mind to drift back to the early years of her life that she was suddenly brought back into reality when her phone began ringing out in her quiet apartment.

Pulling her eyes away from the photo she had been staring at, she began to search the space around her for the technology device and quickly became annoyed when she couldn't locate the object amongst the mess she had created.

Picking up a cushion that had fallen off the couch and onto the floor, she was able to locate her cell phone and before it rung off, she brought it up to her ear and responded to the call "Hello?"

"Hello stranger." A warm deep familiar voice chimed down the phone, an instant smile growing on her face when she registered who it was.

"Jason," Carly greeted back happily, laying the photo's down onto the coffee table and climbing up from her position on the floor "I thought you would be working."

"There wasn't much to do today, so my Dad gave me the day off and he's gone to the office to finish a few things off," He explained to her, before moving on "What you been doing? I've been messaging you for the past hour and I've got no reply. I got worried."

"Oh god, I am so sorry," Carly laughed lightly, looking around at the mess she had created with all her old things and how long it was going to take for her to clear everything up "I've been busy sorting out my old stuff from my Dad's."

"You need some help with that?" Jason offered.

"I don't think you would want to come help sort out this mess," Carly groaned, wondering over to the window and perching herself down on the arm of her couch "I didn't even realise the time. I got so stuck in. What even is the time?"

"It's just gone 10:30. You're not in work till later, are you?"

"No I'm not in till 1pm. So I still have a couple of hours, surely that will be long enough to sort out everything." She told him, knowing that was clearly not what she wanted to spend her morning off doing, tidying up behind herself, but it had to be done.

"That sound's like plenty of time. Do you think you could spare a few moments of your time to see me?" Jason daringly asked her, knowing it had been way too long for his liking since he had been with the girl and needed to see her.

"You're missing me that much?" Carly bit her bottom lip playfully.

They hadn't seen each other in a few days. Jason had been out of town, selling a few apartments in Philly and then he had been stuck at the office all day yesterday, just like she had been busy at work and then out for the evening visiting.

They were planning on seeing each other later tonight, Jason was planning on coming over to the apartment when she got in from work and surprise her with a late dinner, then he was planning on staying the night. But he couldn't help but want to see her already.

He missed her so much.

"Of course I am," Jason smirked down the line, "Aren't you?"

"Of course," She replied honestly, before she pulled back her sheer curtains and looked outside at the street, where a few cars were passing by and a delivery van was delivering some flowers to the florist opposite her apartment block "But how are we going to see each other?

"I was thinking, it would be risky, but maybe you would like to come over?" Jason suggested.

Carly felt her stomach drop slightly at his idea. She hadn't been to the DiLaurentis' house since Jessica's body was found. But even then she hadn't been inside the property, she hadn't been inside since her last day in Rosewood all those years back and she didn't know if she was honestly ready to step foot in a house that she spent so much time at in her senior year.

"What? Are you serious?" She asked him, unsure and confused.

"Yes, I know it's risky, but my Dad's at the office and Ali's out, I doubt she's going to return home anytime soon," Jason explained to the girl, "I know it's a risk. But I just want to see you. We're always at your place and I feel rude that I don't get to bring you over."

"Jason." Carly sighed, before she lowered her head and let go of the curtain, her thumbs twiddling together in uncertainty.

He was right. It was a massive risk. But their whole relationship or whatever they had going on was a gamble. They could get busted at any given moment. She knew Kenneth wouldn't come back. He was too busy working. But there was that chance Alison could and she wouldn't even hesitate on spilling their little secret to those who needed to know the most.

However, she was tired of not being happy because of what other people wanted and how scared she was of other people judging her. If she couldn't be honested about her past, then this would be another step in the right direction of taking risks and being able to not care if there was the chance of being busted.

"You don't have to it. It's just a suggestion." Jason assured her.

"No, no," Carly shook her head, climbing up onto her feet and walking towards her bedroom "I'll come over. Give me 30 minutes and I'll be there."

"You sure?" He asked, not wanting to have to make her do something she would later to regret.

"Yes," She answered, even though she was scared, but she knew she had to see him and take the risk "I'll be over soon. I can't wait to see you."

"Me too, Carly."

It had only been last night when Carly had drove her down the road that the Hasting's and DiLaurentis property was situated along. It had also only been last night when Carly had stood outside Spencer's house, wishing that she could walk up to the DiLaurentis' front door, go inside and see Jason who had been home that night.

But now she was granted the opportunity to do that, she wasn't so sure about how she felt about stepping back into a house that held so many memories, but also was a massive risk for her outing her relationship to one person in particular who had detested it right before it had even started back in the day.

It was evident she was nervous. The nerves had been bubbling in her stomach ever since Jason had suggested the dangerous idea. She was crazy and stupid to go through with it, knowing how much of a risk it really was. But if it meant they could spent a couple of hours together in a different environment than usual, then Carly was willing to risk it and prove to herself that this whole sneaking around thing was the right thing to do for the time being.

Slamming her car door shut and locking it behind herself, she slowly began to wonder round the side of the house, where she had decided to park her car to keep it somewhat out of sight. No one around here knew her car or her number plate off by heart, except from Spencer and she doubted anyone else who lived near by would know it was her who was visiting the house.

Brushing her hair out of her face, her feet came to a halt in front of the steps that lead up to the porch, steps that she had walked up and down numbers of times through her senior year when coming over the DiLaurentis' to see Jason. But it had been three years since she had set foot on them and however silly it was, she could hardly bring herself to walk up them and ring the bell.

It wasn't just the risk of being caught that was making her uneasy. It was also the realisation that she hadn't been here in such a long time and now she was getting the chance to step back inside, like the past three years and what went on that year never even happened. It was like history was repeating itself, but a more mature kind of way and one that was right for them.

Jason who had been lingering by the window for the past five minutes to wait for her to arrive, had noticed Carly pulled up and was getting increasingly worried when he never heard her knock at the door. Instead of waiting for her, he decided to head on out to see what was keeping her and make sure she was ok.

As he pulled open the door, his eyes trailed down the porch and to the front yard, where the girl stood, dressed in her work uniform for the day that consisted of a black just above the knee length pencil skirt, a white blouse and a waterfall coloured black blazer, her usual choice of black court heels were on her feet and her black tote was perched on her inner elbow.

"Hey you," Jason greeted her from inside the door, but when he noticed her not heading on up the stairs or making an attempt to look at him, he stepped outside to grab her attention "Carly? Are you ok?"

Hearing his voice again, she shook her head and brought it up to finally look at him, instead of staring up at the house and around her surroundings like she had seen a ghost. She couldn't even bring the words to respond to him. She felt like she was frozen on the spot, like she couldn't move or speak because her shock and nerves were getting the better of her.

Frowning at her odd behaviour, he wondered over to the first step down on the porch and held out his hand for her to take "Hey, why don't you come inside?"

Seeing his hand move towards her, she looked down at it and felt her chest tighten slightly, knowing it was the best option to go in so they couldn't be caught, but also realising her dramatic actions about being too worried to go inside, were just simply not an option anymore. They had to head inside or risk being outed.

Lacing her fingers through his own, she slowly walked up the few steps and onto the porch where Jason shew her inside into the house, before she gave him a small reassuring smile that she would be ok. Once they were inside and he had closed the door, he let go of her hand and wondered through into the living room space of the property. A space that they hardly ever spent much time in, but one that Carly could definitely tell had changed slightly over the years.

Her eyes wondered around the room, taking in how the room had been styled and redecorated since she had last been there. It looked more modern and fresh. She could already sense that the whole house might have had the same make over done to it since she had been away. Maybe his room had changed and suited his more mature sense now.

"It's so weird being back here," Carly told him laying her bag down on arm chair in the room, her eyes finally turning to look at him, he was stood side facing her in front of a table were a couple of boxes were spread out, her eye brows raised slightly at the scene in front of her and she wondered over to stand beside him "You're going through old stuff too?"

"I kind of got the idea from you," he explained to her, glancing down at the boxes and a few of the objects that had come out of them "I thought I'd have a look through them while I waited for you to come over."

"I see," She side smiled at him, picking up a post card Jason had made when he was a kid and looking down at it in her hand's "you were quite the artist."

Glancing across at her with a smirk, he shook his head amusingly and took the card from her, before slipping it back inside a box "Very funny. Believe it or not, I actually renovated this place."

"This house?" Carly asked surprised.

Jason nodded back at her in response, "When Ali went missing, the first year I took off from college and my parents moved out of town. But when I came back a year later, my parent's left the house to me and I decided to start a new project up. I redecorated upstairs and downstairs, except Ali and my parent's room. I also worked on some of the back yard."

"Wow. I never knew you had such an eye for interior design, but it makes sense since you were in the real estate business," She smiled at him, both of them now turned to face each other "maybe one day you can redesign my first house."

"Your first house?" Jason raised his brows teasingly, his fingers quickly joining with hers like they always did and he squeezed them lightly "what about our first house?"

Biting her bottom lip, she couldn't hide the smirk that was present on her face and she lent in to capture his lips in a sweet warm kiss. His hands detached from her own moments into the kiss and they cupped her face whilst her own found the sides of his body. The kiss began to heat up since they hadn't seen each other in a few days. They had missed each other so much and knew that this time they were spending now before her work was going to be used to it's full advantage.

Just as Jason moved his hand round the side of her head and ran his fingers through the ends of her hair, their was a sudden knock at the door, that suddenly broke the two apart and fear registered across both of their faces that they could be busted any moment now.

Carly's eyes searched Jason's, whilst she watched him glance over to the window that thankfully had the sheer curtains shut, meaning that no one could see properly in, but Jason could just about make out the outside.

Detaching himself from Carly, he slowly wondered over to the window to take a peek behind the curtains and see who it was. Carly spun round on her feet, the panic now flooding through her veins and regret of coming here flashing through her mind. She had only been there a few minutes and someone was already coming to put a stop to it.

Jason found himself frowning when he saw Spencer Hasting's and Emily Fields stood on the porch, looking between each other and the house in front of them, waiting for someone to come to the door and answer it, so they could speak to them, neither of them knowing that Carly was the one also lurking inside.

Turning back round to face Carly, she raised her eyebrows up at him worriedly and he beckoned her over to the stairs. Quickly yet quietly she came over to him, he pointed his finger up towards the stairs "It's Spencer and Emily. I'll get rid of them. Just go hide upstairs in my room. You still know which door it is, right?"

Carly felt a lump form in her throat and knot filled her stomach. She wasn't uneasy only because of the knock at the door, but it was because she knew the real reason as to why Spencer and Emily were there. Spencer was going to question him about Alison's where about, just like she had with her last night about where she was and if she knew where Jason was.

This was Spencer's way of getting Alison's alibi to come forward. She hated being stuck in the middle of this. Once Spencer was out of sight, Carly was going to be honest with him. She had to be. She couldn't lie to him about what she knew. There was certain things he couldn't know concerning the case. But he had to know this, especially when it concerned his half-sisters and what his factual information could do for the case.

Nodding her head slowly at him, she spun round on her heel and began to jog up the stairs, Jason watched her as she did so and once she was at the top of the stairs, he slowly turned back and wondered over to the door to see what the two teenagers wanted.

As she came to the top of the stairs, Carly's eyes trailed across the hall she was stood in the middle of, five doors were staring back at her but one in particular caught her eye and she knew it was the one Jason had instructed her to go inside.

Never did she think she would be back inside the DiLaurentis house. But already going inside his bedroom for the first time she had been back there in over three years. She already felt like she was overstepping the mark. Yet she had no choice. Spencer was already sceptical about Carly and her half-brothers involvement, she couldn't easily confirm that by standing inside the house with Jason for Spencer and Emily to see.

Hearing the sound of the front door open, Carly quickly dashed toward's Jason's door and pushed it open. Her feet slowly wondered inside the room that she felt like she didn't even recognise anymore. In the year's they had been apart, it wasn't just the two of them and everyone around them that had changed in someway, it was also Jason's room and the space she use to hang out with him in.

She found herself frozen in the doorway of the room. Her body unable to move because she was too busy taking in her new surroundings. The old midnight blue painted walls were now a light shade of grey. The bed was positioned in the usual spot, just how she had remembered it to be. However instead of being wooden, it was now consisted of a leather headboard and frame, with a white and beige comforter, white pillows and two pale blue cushions.

Either side of the bed was two black wooden bed side units, with two lamps on, a few ornaments and photo frames sat on top of the surface. Above the bed sat four photo frames that had black and white images of scenery in them. Opposite the bed, were the large windows and in front of them sat a black desk, a laptop sat on top with a few folders positioned beside it, stationary and other little bits were scattered neatly across it.

To the right of where Carly was stood was Jason's built in closet, which had been painted black to fit in with the rest of the room's colour scheme and to the right was some shelves, as well as some more storage. Also the curtains that covered his windows were similiar to Carly's sheer ones, but were instead a pale blue colour to match the cushions that were positioned on the bed.

Even though most of the things in the room were in a similiar layout to when she was last here, the whole room had a completely different feel to what it once was. Before it was like a young adults or teenagers room, it was messy and unorganised. Dirty clothes covered some of the floor space or hung over a desk chair in his room, which was slung under the also untidy desk that had old school work, magazines, books and college assignments slung over it. A stereo and TV also use to be present in the room, but look's like there was no signs of hardly any electronics in the room three years on.

There also use to be empty beer bottles and cans all over the place, around every corner and under every space you could find. For every empty beverage, there was a full one lingering around somewhere. Jason liked to store his alcohol under his bed, tightly hide under other objects or in a locked draw in his closet, so Alison or anyone else could get to it. When it came to the drugs, he hardly ever brought them into the house and when he did, they were kept safely away locked in a safe stuffed under one of the old floor boards.

Carly knew all his hiding places because she spent so much time there. She knew where he liked to hide things. He never had a problem with her knowing. Jason liked sharing his alcohol with her if it made her feel better. He knew she would never dabble into the drug side of things and he tried to stop that bad habit of his as much as he could when he was around her. But it seemed like just like other parts of his room, that there was no more hiding places for her to find because that side of him had gone.

This new room she was situated in was more mature and modern. It felt more like the Jason she now knew. It was a mixture of clean and organised which all she could imagine was how he wanted himself to feel. Clean and organised. Clean from the alcohol and drugs. Organised from not going back to old habits. It suited him well. He had great taste.

Shaking her head at how lost she had got in the past, she turned her body around and lent it against the door frame, unhelpfully listening into the conversation that had now started downstairs. She felt so guilty because she knew the real reason why Spencer had come there that day and Jason was so oblivious to it. But it sounded like he was soon going to find out.

* * *

 **Author: I'm back again already with a new part! I don't know if it's because the new season has started up again or because of you guys, but I've got back into writing this story. I really hope it last's as I have so much planned that I would love to share with you all. I really hope you are enjoying this story again and you're excited for more.**

 **Special thanks to RHatch89, , autumnleaves18, LiLuLo12 and WickedlyMinx for reviewing the last part. I love reading your thoughts and ideas :)**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	35. The History Repeater

"...kitchen's that way if you want to look for your Mom's whatever-it-was." Carly heard Jason's voice say from downstairs, the sound of footsteps walking through into the front sitting room, followed by another and the other's step's traced further into the downstairs of the house.

"Muffin Tray," She heard Emily Field's voice call back, Carly realising that the girl was the fake reason in Spencer's plan in making Jason think that was the reason why the two girls had turned up there and was the one who had walked into the kitchen "She swear's she left it here."

A few moments of silence passed before Jason's voice sparked up again, probably wanting to get rid of Spencer so he could be with Carly and not let the teenagers suspect she was even there "Ali's not home."

"Yeah, I know," Spencer replied, "You two are never in the same place at the same time these days."

"That a trick question?" Jason asked her, his voice lacing with curiosity and somewhat frustration towards his half-sister.

"No," Spencer quickly assured him, "No, it's just a regular statement."

Even from upstairs, Carly could already feel the tension from the floor below regarding the two half-siblings. It was tense and awkward. It was making her feel so uncomfortable, but she couldn't pull herself away from the conversation.

"What do you want, Spencer?" Jason asked her in an unimpressed tone and Carly felt her chest tighten knowing what was coming.

"I want to know why you're protecting her," Spencer began, she could already tell how desperate Spencer sounded and how badly Spencer wanted to get the truth from the DiLaurentis son "The cops found traces of Mona's DNA in Ali's trunk. But it's not enough to arrest her, not when you're providing her with an alibi. Your Dad, I understand. But you..."

Before the teenager could continue her case, Jason cut in sharply and somewhat angrily "It was the night before thanksgiving, Spencer. You're the only one who find it's hard to believe we were all together that night and the day after."

"Jason, I know that you..."

Carly felt her throat go dry at what Spencer was going to say. She just knew that the Hasting was going to prove to Jason that he wasn't here at the house by letting him know that she knew he was with Carly, probably at her house or out of town together, because Spencer was clearly now aware the two had something going on between closed doors.

She was so thankful Jason stopped her.

"Em, you find those muffins yet?"

"Uh, no, not yet." A quiet call was heard back, but it wasn't enough to stop Spencer from going on.

"At some point that night, she got in her car and she left the house, and she didn't come back for a long time," Spencer told him in a quieter tone than before, but it wasn't long before it rose again in desperation "I know she's your sister, but so am I. She set me up, Jason. I'm gonna go to jail because of her. Somebody's dead because of her. They're the ones that are asking you to lie and all I want is the truth."

The sound of footsteps caused Carly to jump slightly in her position against the door and quickly wonder through into the bedroom. They were getting louder and closer to the stairs, part of her realising that Jason was getting the girl's to leave and it had been Emily who had come through to stop Spencer from doing or saying something to upset Jason more than he already sounded.

Her sudden movement was purely because she didn't want to be caught evesdropping on the conversation. A conversation that she was thankful was now ending and Jason was already opening up the door for the girl's to walk out of, despite Spencer's protests of getting Jason to rethink his statement and Emily telling Spencer to let it go for the time being.

Chewing on her bottom lip anxiously, she laid her hands down on the back of the desk chair in the room and looked out the window deep in worry about how Jason was going to be when he came up the stairs to see her. She also knew she had to be honest with him now about Alison, Holbrook and Spencer. Carly hated keeping things from him and it was best if he knew now from her than anyone else.

After a few moments, a pair of warm arms wrapped around her waist and they pulled her body slightly into his front. It wasn't long before their lips found the side of their neck, where they planted a light kiss on their skin and trailed their lips towards the small part of her collarbone that wasn't covered by her white v-neck shirt.

Feeling his touch on her body, a humble feeling came over her for just a few seconds, the anxiety she had felt was replaced instantly. But certainly not for long enough, because as she spun round on her heel to face the guy she had come over to see, her belly fluttered with nerves as to how she knew this moment wouldn't last much longer.

Gently she laid her hand's on his shoulders whilst Jason kept his hands on her waist and she flashed him a small smile, one that clearly didn't meet her eyes but Jason decided the reason was because they had been close to getting caught. He had no idea the real reason behind the girls change in mood.

"You were right," She told him in a soft tone, her eyes looking around his room and then back on his face, anything to try distract her from what she knew she had to do "You've done an amazing job on this place."

"Why thank you," Jason grinned at her, before he rubbed his hands up and down her sides comfortingly when he saw she didn't return the same enthausim he was "Sorry about them. I know that must have worried you to hear someone come to the door."

"It's fine. It was only Spencer." Carly shrugged.

Frowning back at her strange behaviour, he took a step from her in surprise "Only Spencer?"

"Yeah." She nodded her head, running her tongue over her lip nervously at how he had just backed away from her over something so simple. It scared her to think how he would react when she told him what she knew.

"You say that as if you're not bothered about her being here and finding you with me?" Jason questioned her with folded arms and raised brows, clearly somewhat confused.

Carly felt herself sighing at his question, before she leant her body against the back of his desk, lowering her head slightly to the ground as she admitted "I think she already knows."

"How? How could Spencer possibly know about us?" Jason asked further.

Carly's eyes flickered up to look at him, a guilty expression on her face that she was quick to hide from him knowing that was only the beginning to her confession, "Well for starters, I left my bag downstairs which Spencer will have probably recorgnised as mine." She began.

"How would she know it was yours?" He pressed, "She could have just assumed it was Ali's."

"Maybe," Carly rubbed her lips together, "But she's seen me with my bag before Jason. Like the night I was over at her house. Remember when I told you I went over there to help out with Melissa?"

Jason nodded his head at her, before she continued on"well that was the same night you called me, Spencer never realised it was you on the phone to me at the time and I went outside to take the call anyway. But when I came back in to finish talking to her, I left my phone down on the island where we were talking and she saw your name flash up. I wasn't quicken enough but she never said anything until yesterday."

"What happened yesterday?"

Jason unfolded his arms unimpressed by all of this, before Carly lent her body up straight nervously and ran her fingers through her hair, taking a deep breathe in and confessing what she knew "There's no other way to say this than to just simply be honest. Spencer invited me over last night to talk about me helping her to get Holbrook off the case, so Tanner would realise that Alison had something to do with Bethany Young's and Mona's murder."

"Of course she would go to you." Jason sighed frustrated.

He hated how involved Carly was with the case. He didn't like it not one bit. But it was her dream job. It was the job she had always wanted. So he was never going to stop her or want anything from it. But he hated knowing how it came between them. Even now with Spencer, he hated how his half-sister was using her for her own advantage.

Jason wasn't frustrated at Carly. He was more so at Spencer and how the drama was still in his and Carly's way even when they were kept private from the rest of the world. He just wished they could have a normal simple relationship.

"Jason, please, listen to me," Carly whined, coming over to stand in front of him and instantly she grabbed hold of his hands, "I don't care that she did, Jason. Because I hate to say it to you, but I have to agree with what Spencer is saying. Alison is playing a game. You know she is. You know that Holbrook went to her for information on me, information that would get me kicked off the team. Alison wants Spencer and the other girls to go down."

"I get that Holbrook went to Alison for dirt on you and I know Alison likes to play games with people, but how can you be so sure that Spencer didn't kill those two girls?" Jason questioned her more, refolding his arms

"As Spencer told you, they found Mona's DNA in Alison's trunk and we both know that you weren't at home with Alison or your father that night. Your Dad got you to lie for Alison's sake, but you also chose to lie for our sake, Jason. Spencer is right, she wasn't at home that night. In terms of Bethany, I can't say anymore than what Spencer has told you. It's against my job. But there is something you should know about Holbrook and Alison." She explained to him, with sorrow eyes.

"What now?"

"He was caught kissing Alison at the ice ball," Carly bit down on her bottom lip, waiting for Jason to flip out at her, but she was surprised when he didn't, instead he held his confused stare "we believe he's working with Alison to take down Spencer and the girls. If Holbrook's out of the picture, then it will be easy to make Tanner see the truth."

"So Spencer went to you to see what you knew about Holbrook?"

Carly nodded, "I didn't tell her anything, nothing about that night when he threatened me, she told me I didn't have to. But I can't help but feel like I should have. Spencer doesn't deserve to go down for murder she didn't commit. The whole reason I took an interest in this career was to help the victims and punish those who are guilty."

"And that person is Alison." Jason guessed.

Shining him a tight smile, she slowly nodded her head and took a seat down on the end of his bed "I should have told you about Spencer. I was going to but I just didn't realise she was going to break Alison's alibi so quickly. I am sorry."

"You've got nothing to apologise for," Jason assured her, taking a seat beside her and she instantly turned her head to look at him "It's your job. It's all about confidentiality. I get it. But I'm glad you were honest about the Spencer thing. I understand the both of you."

"You're not mad?" Carly asked surprised.

"Not with you, Carl's," He grabbed hold of her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze "At Alison, Spencer, Holbrook, the whole case. I just want it to be over with."

"I know, Jason," Carly sighed, laying her head down on his shoulder and linking her arm through his "I thought that by the time I was back in Rosewood this would all be over with."

Jason nodded, staring off into the distance, before he spoke up "I know what I have to do," Carly rolled her eyes up at him "I'm going to tell Tanner the truth. I'm going to tell her that Alison wasn't at home that night."

Shocked at his revelation, she brought her head up to look at him "Are you sure? You don't have to do this if you don't want to, Spencer might have been pressuring you, but I swear I wasn't..."

Jason quickly stopped her, holding his hand up to silence her "I do want to. I'm positive about my decision."

"Are you sure?" She asked him again.

He nodded at back at her "I'm 100% sure."

An hour later, Carly and Jason made their way back downstairs after spending the rest of their time together laying on his bed in a comfortable silence, staring up at the cieling and Jason tickling Carly's arm soothingly. Both of them not knowing what to say to the other because they knew it would go back to Alison and what he had to do for Spencer's sake.

Coming over to the front door, she had just then grabbed her bag from the chair and was then hooking it up her arm onto her inner elbow, before she met Jason at the door who was looking at her with a small smile.

"Thanks for inviting me over. It was good to spend some time with you before work." Carly told him, before she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug.

Hugging her back, Jason laid his head down onto her shoulder and responded "You're welcome. I hope you enjoyed it despite what happened."

Pulling away from him, she shone him a light smile and linked her hand with his "What are you going to do about that?"

"I'm going to call Tanner when you've left, see if she would talk with me sometime today, I think it's best if I get it over and done with." Jason said in a sad tone.

Carly felt her chest sink slightly hearing him sound like that, knowing how hard it must have been for him to have to between his two sisters the way he was and go against his family more than he had in the past.

As much as he disliked Alison and the way she was, at the end of the day he was her big brother and they were supposed to be a family. She couldn't even bare to imagine how he must have been feeling to be put in the middle and possibly be the reason for Tanner to push towards Alison being guilty.

"Everything we'll be ok." Carly tried to assure him, even if she didn't know it herself.

But it was better this way.

"I know," Jason sighed, "Will you be ok though?"

"Me?" She asked confused.

"Yeah. You're in the mist of all of this. I don't want you to get too stressed out and let your anxiety get the better of you." He explained concerned.

"I'll be fine, Jason. I can control it. Stop worrying about me and focus on what you're going to say to Tanner."

"Right." Jason nodded his head, un-linking his hands from her's and grabbing hold of the door, before he pulled it open and laid his other hand on the side of her arm.

Looking down at his hand on her, Carly brought her head back up to look at him with a small smile, before she lent over and pecked the side of his cheek, "I'll be going then. Call me if you need me, yeah?"

"Of course," Jason forced a light smile back at her, not wanting her to worry about him, "you take care of yourself, Carl's."

"I will do," She smiled, stepping out onto the porch and turning back to face him, "I hope thing's with Tanner go ok."

"Yeah me too." He agreed with her, before Carly nodded back at him one last time and began her journey over to her car to go see the very Lieutenant herself.

Jason watched Carly from the front door way, an uneasy feeling sitting in the bottom of his stomach, not wanting to let Carly down, but not too sure he could really go through with letting Ali be punished for good.

She was his little sister and he hated the type of person she had turned out to be. Who was he trying to kid when he thought that maybe she had changed after she had got back from being missing for all those years.

As hard as it was going to be, it was the right thing for him to do and it was the best thing he could do to stop anyone else going down for murders they didn't commit in this town. He couldn't let Spencer go down for something she didn't do. He couldn't betray Carly and go against her either.

His eyes trailed over to Carly who was now reversing out of her parking spot and onto the main dirt track that lead out of where the DiLaurentis and Hasting's properties were situated.

As she approached the front of his house, she slowly decreased her speed and glanced out the window at him, seeing the same painful look on his face that she had witnessed earlier in the day and the same guilt feeling took over her.

She really did not want to go to work and leave him when he was like this. Carly didn't want him to be alone when he made the decision to talk to Tanner and admit the truth about Alison's where abouts. She wished more than anything she could sit beside him in the questioning room, being his support and back up.

But it just wasn't possible in her job position and the fact that no one still didn't know anything about them, apart from Spencer who had been skeptical about their doings the past few weeks.

Instead, the only thing she could do was flash him another reassuring smile, before driving off and heading towards the station for the rest of the day, not knowing whether Jason would really go through with it and if Tanner would be so accepting for him only now coming forward with the truth.

Jason knew he had to. He had made his decision and had to stick with it.

When he saw Carly's car drive off into the distance, he pulled his cell phone out form his pocket, as he headed back inside the house and closed the door with the top of his foot.

Once it was shut, he dialled the number he had saved in his phone for the investigation and brought the device up to his ear, listening to the ringing tone and waiting to hear someones voice pick up on the other line.

When the line went dead and the sound of a polite, welcoming voice answered, he found himself taking a large inhale in, before he began the start of his confession, "Uh hi, this is Jason DiLaurentis. I have some important information on my sister, Alison DiLaurentis."

An hour later, Jason was sat on his couch, looking through some of the old family photos he had found out earlier, his eyes kept trailing from the clock on the wall and back down to the innocence on the photographs in his hands.

With every second that ticked by, another wave of nervousness and agitation flickered over him, he had been trying so hard not to reach out to the one person he needed to talk to, the one person who would calm his nerves and make him feel better about the decision he had made.

The same decision she had given him the chance to come to and encouraged to support him with whatever he decided to do. The same reason as to why he was having to swing by the police station later that day to speak to Tanner and tell her the information he knew.

Jason so hoped Carly would be there, even if not in the way they both wanted, but having her there would be enough for him to know he was making the right decision.

The sound of his sister, the sister he was going to put in the frame for a number of murders later on that day, had now come into the house and was wondering through into the sitting room where he was looking through the family photos.

"Jason," Alison said a little surprised to see him at home, as well as in town, "What are you doing here?"

"I came by to pick up some files by the office," he told her staring down at the photos in his hands, "they were up in that closet with all of Dad's family photos," Alison stepped a little closer to see the images,

"you know you have three full baby albums?" Jason asked her, his tone was bitter and he couldn't help it, ever since talking to Carly and listening to Spencer earlier, his disgust toward's his sisters behaviour over the years just grew more, "Guess how many I've got."

Alison's eyes shifted the floor awkwardly, knowing full well the answer to that and how she'd always been the preferred child out of her and Jason, but it was enough to make Jason scoff.

Shaking his head, he glanced between the photo in his hand and his sister, "Remember this?"

As Jason held out the photo to her, Alison stepped closer and took it from him, glancing down at the family photo. It was a picture of one of their many ski vacations from when they were younger. On the outside looking back at the photo, they looked like a perfect happy family. But that was far from the truth and always had been.

"It was a good day." Alison smiled briefly at her brother at the photo.

"No, it wasn't," Jason corrected her, seeing right through the falseness, "Dad forgot his wallet, we were fighting the whole time, it took eight shots before we finally got one of us all smiling."

She looked between the photograph and her brother, before she lent down to lay it on the coffee table in front, still feeling that uneasiness around Jason and how he was acting with her, "I guess I remember it differently."

"You always had a knack for that," Jason responded harshly, he couldn't stop himself for firing comments her way, he couldn't look at her as his little sister anymore, "remembering things differently, you and Dad,"

Alison continued to stare down at her brother, somewhat surprised at his attitude towards her, but then she began to realise that he must have talked to someone about her, someone who was sharing just as much hatred towards her right now,

"I wish I had that," Jason faked a smile, "I really do. You had him wrapped around your finger since day one."

His sister watched as Jason's head rolled down to the next photo in his hand, one of him as a child with his Dad holding him up in the air, the happiness was just moments before the hatred between the two men started all over again.

"Spencer talked to you, didn't she?"

"Yeah, she did," Jason confirmed Alison's theory, but he knew where to hit it right, "and Emily,"

Alison began to feel her breathing get heavier, the anger and panic flooding through her as to why her so called friends would do this to her. Not only where they trying to take her down, but they were now getting Jason, her older brother and family to join forces.

"And they're right, Ali," He continued on, standing up from his seat, "you went somewhere on thanksgiving day, then you came back and barely said a word. Where did you go, Ali? Really."

"I'm being framed, Jason," Alison fired back at him, her voice stern and strict, "Spencer, Emily, Aria, Hannah...they're all working together. They wish I'd never come back and now they want me gone,"

Jason stared back at his sister, he hated how helpless and desperate she sounded, it was so unlike her and for a short moment he found it amusing how it had to come to this from such a manipulative teenager.

"You have to believe me," She demanded him to, Alison couldn't lose the last pieces of family she had left, "I did not kill Mona."

He couldn't stand to listen to this, purely because he didn't believe her, but also because how she was acting was making the situation so much harder. Jason had to stick to his plan and what he had to do. It was the right thing to do.

Laying the photos down onto the coffee table, he slipped past Alison and headed upstairs, wanting to get out of there and away from his sister, but the next thing that fell from her mouth made him freeze on the spot with worry.

"And where were you that day?" Alison questioned him, just as angry he was and wanting answers of her own, "you weren't at the house, but you were in town. Where did you sneak off to?"

"Is that really any of your business?" Jason asked, keeping his back to her at the bottom of the stairs.

"And is it your business knowing where I am?"

Shaking his head, Jason decided not to argue anymore with her, because he knew Alison would press him further and further until he gave in about where he had been, which meant exposing his relationship with Carly.

He couldn't do that, especially to someone like Alison who would with no doubt go run to the police station and her father explaining what the girl had been up to behind closed doors with her older brother.

Jason couldn't let history repeat itself.

* * *

 **Author note: Hello everyone! So sorry for the short update and late update. I went away, so I was unable to update whilst I was gone. But I am back, writing lots and hopefully updating more regularly now.**

 **I've been getting back into this story so much the past few weeks. Literally I cannot stop writing nor thinking of where it is headed. I have so much planned. I am also loving season 7 of the show. It has been so good so far, because since the time jump I had been feeling a bit meh about it all, but oh my god this season has been so good. *SPOILERS* Noel Kahn is also back now omg and Jason is coming back in an episode very soon, I honestly cannot wait. Are you guys loving the show?**

 **Special thanks to RHatch89 & LiLuLo12 for reviewing the last part. I really appreciate it so thanks :) I'd love to hear more of your thoughts.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this part,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	36. Hanging In The Balance

**Hanging In The Balance:**

The start of Carly's shift hadn't started off too well. She had been feeling on edge and apprehensive for the events of the day to unfold. Carly couldn't stop thinking about whether or not Jason was going to call in, report the information he knew and if Tanner would act upon it.

She had tried to keep her attention focused on the tasks she had been set for the day, which included report typing, filing away files, going over some evidence and building her own theories behind them. Strangely all her theories just came back to Alison and Carly began to wonder if that was just by coincidence or because she was really onto something here.

Carly felt so bad for having such a bad feeling toward's Alison like she always had for years of torture from her and Cece. She wished things wouldn't have to be like when she was dating her brother. But it was how things were and Carly had to put her job first in the circumstance.

If she believed Alison was guilty and needed to get Tanner off Spencer's back, then Carly would do her very best as a trainee detective, but also as a friend to Spencer to get the girl off the radar and Alison on it instead.

Carly always believed getting justice for the victims and this would be a successful way to bring it, one full of truth and making the guilty ones suffer for their actions. Alison deserved that for all the horrible things she had done over the years to not only her, but many others so.

It was around two hours until her shift for the day was over and still there had been nothing on anything to do with new information that was suppose to come for Jason circling around the office.

Carly was beginning to grow increasingly concerned and every time Tanner emerged out of her office, her eyes would be on the Lieutenant watching what she was doing and if there was any signs of progress from Jason's actions.

It wasn't until Tanner came back inside the building from outside, that Carly could that Tanner was now heading her actual way. Instead of wanting to look like a weirdo for watching her, Carly refocused her attention on the nearly finished report on her laptop screen and began to look busy.

Shen she heard a light tap at the door, Carly slowly turned her head to look over at it just as the Lieutenant stepped inside with her usual tight lip smile on her face. Carly's hand's dropped from the laptop keyboard and fell into her lap, the nerves growing in the pit of her stomach to find out what Tanner was wanting to see her for.

Dread came over her immediately wondering if she had somehow found out about her and Jason, she had gone over to his house and had integrated him, making him let slip that they were romantically involved with each other again.

But Carly could't think like that, especially when times were tense, she had to keep optimistic and instead wonder if they were considering Alison being a suspect in the murder of Mona still.

She sure hoped Jason had followed through with his plans.

"Hello, Carly," Tanner greeted her, wondering over to the desk she was sitting and then taking a seat in where Holbrook usually sat, "I hope I'm not bothering you, but this won't take too long."

"What can I help you with, Lieutenant Tanner?" Carly asked her politely, looking over at her at the end of the table and trying to hide her nerves.

"Well, I got a call earlier on today," Tanner informed her, the trainee's eyes widening a little at this and her stomach dropped, hoping this was caller was Jason, "some new information came in about Alison DiLaurentis. I'm bringing the witness in shortly for some questioning."

"Oh," Carly pretended to act surprised, she was slightly relieved that Jason had managed to follow through with it all, that was if it was even him of course, "What information is this?"

"According to the witness, they know of Alison's where about's the night Mona Vanderwall was murdered." Tanner explained to her.

Carly's relief was growing more and more, but then came the anxiety of Jason turning up here and them having to act like they didn't even know each other. That was going to be harder than sending his little sister down for murder of another teen.

"That is interesting." Carly commented, sitting up slightly and appearing enthused by this news.

When inside she was going insane about the outcomes of all of this.

"I thought so too," Tanner agreed, before she slowly began to get up from her seat, "I'd like you to join me for the questioning."

"Really?" Carly couldn't believe it, of all the questionings Tanner wanted her to be involved with, it had to be with a potential Jason, "Are you sure?"

"Of course, you've been getting involved lots recently," Tanner explained to her, her reasoning for wanting the girl involved, "I want you to try take lead on this one. I think you're ready."

Was this seriously happening right now?

Tanner wanted her involved in a questioning and not just be on the side lines, it was actually leading it and being the one to discuss the questions with the witness. Carly was freaking out inside, trying to hold it together on the out, but god this just a recipe for disaster.

When Carly went silent and was trying to process her thoughts, Tanner's eyebrows furrowed together as to why her trainee was acting this way, she thought she would be thrilled and jump at the chance, yet Carly was behaving the opposite.

"If that is obviously want you want, Miss Monroe," Tanner continued on, causing Carly to snap out of her worries, "I believe you are ready to take lead. I can guide you through it and jump in where appropriate, but I'd really like to see you lead."

"Of course it's what I want," Carly assured her, shaking her head slightly with nerves, "sorry, it's just such a shock to me."

Did Tanner know that Carly knew it was Jason coming in that evening?

She really hoped Tanner wasn't aware, otherwise it would mean a lot of explaining to do. But surely Tanner must have remembered that Carly and Jason must have some connection when Alison had teased her about it months back, no doubt Holbrook had also said something in one of their private conversations.

But Tanner was so eager for her to take control of the questioning and be the one to ask Jason questions. Maybe Tanner was trying to examine her instead and watch to see her mess up or show her true role in this whole case.

But Carly knew where she stood in this case. She was a detective inside the office and also outside. But she was also a friend to Spencer, not wanting to see a girl go down for something she didn't do. And a girlfriend to Jason, Alison's brother, not wanting him to suffer anymore of his family's actions.

"Well, it will only be small and probably not last very long," Tanner explained, heading over to the door, wanting to set up the meeting room, "the witness sounded very sure of themselves, so we won't have any problems with this."

"Great, that's good," She smiled at Tanner nervously, before she slowly wondered over to the door with her, "When will they be here?"

"Within the next few minutes," The Lieutenant informed her, standing in the door way, ready to get this meeting underway, "sorry I didn't come to tell you before, it was a last minute decision to have you involved, not that I didn't want you to, Miss Monroe, but it's just the person coming in I'm worried about."

"Why would you be worried?" Carly asked, trying to appear confused, when really she was actually freaking out now.

What the hell did Tanner actually know?

She was sure if Holbrook had dropped her in it, then she would do the exact same to him, but twice as hard.

"I just know that you know people in this on more of a friendly bases since you grew up here," Tanner explained, "I don't you to be put in a hard situation again like with Miss and Mrs Montgomery."

"As I assured you that day and still now, that wouldn't happen again," She promised her and also herself, Carly had to put her work first right now, "I'll remain professional at all times."

"I really hope so," Tanner told, as Carly gave her a small smile, before they heard Tanner's assistant call her from the main area of the foyer, altering her that the witness was now here, "That must be him. Meet me in meeting room 1 in five minutes."

Sheepishly smiling back at her boss, Carly watched as Tanner wondered off and met them in the middle of the foyer beside the front desk. When Tanner stepped out of the way and headed in the direction of another office, the person trailed behind them and she felt her stomach drop when they were revealed.

It was Jason. He had followed through with his plan. He had come here to be honest about Alison. She was proud of him for being brave, but it wasn't enough to ease her about him being here, when still no one was aware they were romantically inclined.

He hadn't spotted her yet, as she began to wonder back over to her desk, although she kept her eyes on him, wanting him to see her so he could feel slightly at ease that she would be about, but not wanting to put him off enough at what he had actually come here for.

When Tanner walked back out and then guided Jason toward's the hall, to head down to the meeting room, Jason's eyes caught with her own and the two of them stared at each other, before he disappeared down the hall leaving Carly alone in her office, trying to remain positive about this whole situation.

It might have seem like a small thing to others, but Carly and Jason being out like this in a really important place was a huge risk. Neither one of them could slip up, even just the slightest look in the wrong way would probably send Tanner filing her own investigation into their relationship. Carly already knew Toby and Spencer were watching her every move for different reasons.

So it didn't help that when Carly turned up to the meeting room a few minutes later to see Toby sat inside the room with Jason and Tanner, waiting for her to arrive and Tanner to set up the tv with a recording they had just got in today for evidence.

Once she was inside the room, Carly closed up the door and wondered over to take a seat opposite where Jason was. Tanner had pulled up a chair in front of where Jason was but to the side, so she could easily control the TV and also probably integrate Jason. Where as, Toby was stood behind Jason, his arms folded seriously and he kept his eyes flickering between Carly and the screen.

If her nerves had been mad the moment she had walked through into the station today, now they were off the scale and she was trying her hardest to keep her anxiety calm in this situation. She couldn't freak out and run out of the room. Tanner would be pissed at her and it would cause more drama she didn't want to deal with.

Once the TV was set up, Tanner took a seat on her chair and got out the remote, ready to hit play on the recordings they had gathered together this morning in their investigation. An investigation Carly had only found out about when she got to work earlier that afternoon and had read the report.

Now she was using the footage she was going to see as something to focus on and distract herself from the fact Jason was sat just inches away from her, the tension rising with every moment that past and Jason was even struggling not to glance over at the girl.

"Before we begin, I just want to introduce me and my team today," Tanner announced, "you know me of course, Lieutenant Tanner," Jason nodded slightly, "this is officer Cavanaugh and trainee Detective Monroe,"

Toby's eyes once again rolled down at Carly, who glanced up at him, wondering why he was so watchful of her. It was slightly driving her insane with his constant bad vibes towards her. She hadn't even done anything wrong. If anything, she'd be more than a help to his girlfriend than before,

"We'll be leading this meeting today, so any questions please do come to us."

"Great." Jason nodded, just wanting to get this over with.

"Let's begin," Tanner said, looking over at Toby and motioning for him to turn off the lights, in which he did as she then pressed play on the recordings, "Earlier on, Mrs Vanderwaal asked us to search the house again, and we found something, what we're unsure of,"

The recordings were showing two girls struggling against one another, like they were fighting with each other and trying to get the other one to stop. Both of them were dressed in all black clothing yet one of them was clearly Mona and the other was a blonde, with long hair and the same physique that resembled someone they all knew,

"but by you coming forward, Mr DiLaurentis, we think we might possibly be on to something," Tanner continued on informing him, "There was three cameras. This is the only relevant one. Mona put them in herself. The batteries ran down months ago, but they were working on thanksgiving."

Tanner's head turned over to look at Carly, urging her to go on and Carly had to put her detective head on, replacing the anxious girlfriend one, instead needing to do her job for today, "Is there anything about the attacker that is any way familiar to you?"

"It could be my sister," Jason responded keeping his eyes on the screen, he'd been a little surprised to hear Carly talk, just as shocked as he was when she walked in there, of course she would be in this meeting with them if she was on the case, "it could be Alison."

"How could it be your sister if Alison was with you and your father when the incident occurred?" Carly pressed further, though she clearly knew where Jason was that night.

"Because she wasn't with us," Jason admitted, slightly guilty for many reasons, "that was a lie."

"You're saying that Alison wasn't with you when Mona Vanderwaal was killed?" Tanner jumped in.

"That's right." Jason confirmed it.

"Thank you, Mr Dilaurentis," Tanner looked over at Toby, who then turned the lights back on and she hopped to her feet, "I will have detective Monroe walk you out."

Carly felt her eyes widen slightly at this, before she slowly climbed to her feet, just like Jason now was and sheepishly looked over at the girl. Tanner brushed past him, before she pulled open the door and ushered him out,

"Good night, Mr DiLaurentis."

Heading out of the door, Jason lead the way back into the main foyer of the station, whilst Tanner, followed by Toby and then Carly wondered behind him.

When they all arrived, Tanner turned to look at Jason, "We'll try keep you informed."

"Thanks," He nodded slightly, before looking over at the door, "Good night."

Coming up behind Jason who was now heading on out, Carly grabbed the door and held it open for him. Once he was outside and stood on the front of the station, before he could head down the steps, Carly grabbed hold of his elbow and pulled him with her.

She brought them over to behind a row of bushes outside the front of the station, it was dark out so no one would be able to see them from where they were. The only ways they would get caught was if someone came out from the front or was heading inside.

But right now, the were safe enough to talk and be them, rather than acting like they didn't even know each other.

"You came." Carly broke the silence between the pair.

"I know, I had to," He responded, keeping his voice low and quiet, not wanting anyone to find out they were there, "Alison came home not long after you left."

"What happened?" She asked, somewhat worried now.

"Not much, she just tried to make me not believe Spencer," Jason told her with a small shrug, "I obviously didn't listen to Alison. But it's also not nice basically giving in your sister to the cops."

"I know," Carly smiled sadly at him, "I get how you must be feeling. None of this is easy."

"I know," He agreed with her, before he moved his hand out and laid it on her shoulder, "you did so well in there."

"You think so?" She beamed, it was so lovely to hear him say that about her.

"Of course," Jason smirked back at her, glad they could still be like this despite everything, "the whole detective role is so sexy on you."

"Jason!" Carly exclaimed in a low whisper, a little colour flushing over her cheeks.

"What?" He smiled back at her innocently.

"Stop it," She giggled helplessly, before she stepped closer to him, "I finish in a few, why don't you go wait back at the apartment for me?"

"I can't, Carls," He declined the offer, causing disappointment to come over her immediately, "I want to be at home tonight in case anything happens. I doubt it will so soon, but I just think it might be weird if I'm no where to be found after tonight."

"No, you're right," Carly nodded slowly, somewhat understanding but also the sadness she still felt it to not have him with her tonight, "I get it."

"I'll see you soon though, yeah?" He asked hopeful, hoping he hadn't upset her too much.

"Of course," She reassured him, "and things will work out with this whole case. I always have to be optimistic and so should you."

"I'll try," Jason suggested, before he slowly lent over and pecked her lips lightly, not wanting to get too carried away or he would beg her to let him reconsider the offer, "Good night, Carls."

Pulling away from him in shock he had just done that so out in the open, though they were hidden, anyone could have just seen that. They could have looked like they were talking before, but now it was evident they were romantically involved with one another.

Turning away from her, Jason began his journey back down the steps outside the station and over to his car, wanting to head back home to just try relax and finish clearing up the mess of family pictures he had left out earlier.

Leaving Carly nothing else to do than emerge out of her hiding space a few seconds later and head back in, although she was met by officer Cavanaugh's watchful eyes on her again.

Sighing at how annoying that was becoming, Carly avoiding his glare on her and headed back over to her office, wanting to finish off the report, email it across and then go home for the night after the long day today.

When she stepped through into her office, she felt a presence behind her and when she turned around, Carly felt her irritated levels grow, "Toby. What can I do for you?"

"Just want to talk," He informed her, coming through into the office and slowly shutting the door behind himself, "if that's alright?"

"I guess it is now," Carly flashed a brief smile his way, before leaning against the desk and looking over at him, "what do you want to talk about?"

"Just what your game is?" Toby questioned her.

"My game?" Carly couldn't help but laugh lightly at this, was he serious right now? "What game?"

"Good cop during the day, bad cop at night."

Carly scoffed loudly at this, way too amused that Toby seriously thought she was playing a game, but also thought she'd been breaking the rules, "What?"

"Spencer might be too wrapped in all of this to see through you, but I do," He explained to her, "I don't understand where you stand in all of this. Things don't make sense nor do they add up."

"Woah, wait," Carly couldn't believe how he was behaving towards her, he still was acting shady around her and like he didn't trust her, but he had nothing to fear when she really was on his side, inside and outside of the station, "Toby, please. What's brought all this on? Remember when you first started here, we use to talk and actually get along."

"That was before you started helping Spencer out."

"Ok," She shook her head, so confused by him, he really had got the wrong impression of her, "but by helping her I'm not playing a game."

"What are you keeping from her though?" Toby asked.

"Does it matter to the both of you?" Carly shot back, somewhat irritated by this, she didn't really think it was appropriate for Toby to come in here demanding answers about her and her secrets, "Does Spencer want to know what I'm keeping from her?"

"I think she's puzzled by it all and would prefer answers."

"Well wouldn't we all want to know the truth behind everything in this messed up town and case," She was beginning to lose it, Carly hardly ever got angry, but god her levels of tolerence were growing smaller and smaller, "but it's impossible half of the time for us to understand anything. But I'm the least of your worries right now, so you don't need to be worrying about me."

"Don't we?"

"No," Carly assured him, letting out a loud sigh of distress at how Toby just couldn't trust her, "I know the both of you want to know what I know about Holbrook and what my big secrets are. But I've played my part now. Jason's come forward and it's done."

"So something is going on between you and Jason?" Toby pressed, after Spencer had suggested it a number of times to him and also he had noticed the tension between the two in the meeting room earlier on.

"I can't discuss that here," She told him, not wanting to open up about it, since they hadn't told anyone about them, nor did she want to even tell Toby of all people, "and especially not with you."

Turning around, Carly went over to her desk and began to shut down her laptop, wanting to get out of this office and blow off some steam. Toby had really pushed her too far tonight. If the day hadn't already been nerve wracking enough, now she had him coming in here quizzing her like she was guilty of something.

The only thing she was guilty of was getting herself way too involved with everyone else's drama.

Open watching her packing her stuff away, Toby got the message that she wasn't going to give him anymore information that evening. Plus if he grilled her too far, he knew word would get back to Spencer and his girlfriend wouldn't be happy that he had been rooting for answers without her permission.

Spencer didn't want conflict between the two and she wanted to keep Carly on their side, because she saw her as a massive help not as a detective, but as a friend and someone who knew a lot more than they were letting on.

Reopening up the door, Toby gave Carly one last look, hoping she might turn round and give him at least a hint to what she was hiding from them. But when she didn't, he knew there was no chance and instead he left the office to get on with his own work for the rest of the night.

Once Toby had gone, Carly run her fingers over her face in distress and exhaled loudly. She couldn't wait to get into bed tonight and sleep off the horrendous mood she was feeling right now. The only thing that was making that sound less appealing was the fact she'd be lonely tonight.

There would be no Jason and she didn't know if she wanted him to not be there. Part of her wanted to be there for him and in turn him be there for her. They always worked better as a team rather than a part.

Grabbing her bag and jacket, Carly headed out of her office and signed out for the day, before she made her way over to her car and hopped inside of it. Starting up the engine, she pulled away from the road side and began her riskily journey of heading to the DiLaurentis house.

Because she was so nervous of this decision going wrong, Carly took the long way to Jason's to psych herself up a little and think how she was going to actually get in without Kenneth or Alison seeing her.

She couldn't quite believe she was doing this and risking so much. But Carly just wanted to be with Jason for the night. She couldn't stand the thought of him sitting at home alone, fretting about what was going to happen to Alison and not having anyone to reassure him that things would be ok.

It was a huge risk and probably one of the worst decisions she could make. But if it all worked out, it would pay off and Jason would feel a lot better knowing she'd done for this for him, as well as having someone there to support him.

Plus she needed a big old rant to him about what Toby had said to her after Jason had left. It still angered her even whilst she was driving that he had been so integrating and had such a bad opinion of her.

In her eyes, she couldn't see what she had done that was so wrong for Toby to act this way towards her. Surely he should be a little kinder and respectful to her, if they did want to find out what she knew and also have her on their side. Because right now, he was surely going the wrong way about it all.

Just like she was by going to the DiLaurentis house.

She hoped that because it was so late into the evening, that with everything going on that maybe Alison would be out and Kenneth busy with trying to distract himself away from his children's dramas, that they wouldn't even realise Carly was going to be there.

Carly was planning on parking where she did earlier that day, keeping her lights down low and her movements quiet. When she got down Jason's road, she was planning on texting him to let him know she was outside and wanted to see him.

At least this way he would be prepared for her visit and would be able to work with her in ensuring she could come in with no one knowing she was there.

As Carly turned the track of the road that lead down to the DiLaurentis, Hastings and other homes down their road, the nerves in the pit of her stomach began to grow once again. The realisation that she was actually doing this hitting her hard.

Why was she always so reckless and irresponsible when it came to Jason?

But it wasn't until she ventured further down the track that she actually realised what a bad mistake she had made planning on coming there that night. Outside the DiLaurentis house, Carly could just about make out the sight of blue flashing lights, signalling to her that some form of emergency vehicles were outside.

It suddenly dawned on her that it had to be the police cars. It had to be Tanner coming to arrest Alison. She was shocked she had moved so fast on the matter, but if they didn't want to waste anymore time than they already had trying to find the murderer, then it made sense.

But why hadn't she been made aware of this? Why didn't she just take the normal route to the DiLaurentis?

Maybe then she would have seen them go past and could have said her all this trouble coming out of here for her to just get caught straight away.

She knew she needed to move out of there fast before they decided to head on back to the station. Quickly she emergency braked, then began to do a U-turn to try go back the way she had come.

Panic was flooding through her body at this point, but it wasn't nothing like the fear she felt seconds after. Once the car was back facing the right way, Carly pressed her foot down on the accelerator and tried to speed off out of there.

Suddenly flashes of bright beaming lights coming from the opposite direction, caused her to squint at the brightness coming from the other vehicle heading her way, it was putting her off the road so much and making it impossible for her to even see where she was going.

Beeping her horn at the rudeness of the other driver wasn't enough for the person to turn down their lights, with every seconds they got closer to Carly, she found herself losing control of the wheel, even more so when the car turned into her lane and was heading straight towards her.

Freaking out about how this was going to end for her, Carly made the decision on swerving out of the way and unfortunately due to her blindness from the bright lights from the other vehicle, sent her and her car flying straight into a tree up ahead.

The contact of the tree and her vehicle, caused her whole body to slam into the steering wheel in front of her, the seat belt tightening around her neck and giving her whiplash, the impact of the crash caused pain to erupt all over her body and the airbag thankfully managed to break her head from being smashed up more than it was.

As her head snapped back up to the head rest, Carly felt her vision begin to blur and the feeling of blood trickling out of the top of her forehead from a cut, caused her to break out into tears as to what just happened. The anxiety regarding the crash suddenly hit her and sent her into a panic attack.

But the panic attack wasn't enough to keep her awake, the shock, the fear and the pain taking over her body. Within seconds, Carly felt her head begin to sway and her vision go dotted, before it wasn't long before her surroundings went quieter and she was plunged into a sea of darkness.

Leaving the girl's limp body sat in the drivers side of the car that was stuck against the tree trunk, the driver of the other car had spun around and drove out of there, leaving Carly alone and the hope of someone coming to rescue her hanging in the balance.

* * *

 **Author note: Hello! Back again this week with another new part. I am honestly loving writing this story so much at the moment, so I really hope you are also enjoying it.**

 **Special big thanks to RHatch89, Elliebelle4444 and HOAfan8509 for reviewing the last part. There's going to be a lot of drama coming up near the trial. I'm so close to writing those parts now and looking forward to sharing more with you guys.**

 **I'd love to hear what you thought about this part.**

 **Thanks so much,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	37. Totally Inappropriate

**Totally Inappropriate:**

The young woman's eyes began to flutter open, their mind trying to push them out of the dark fog that lingered around them and instead taking in their new surroundings they were based in.

The white walls and green tiled flooring below covered the small room she was situated in, opposite where she was laying down on a large white bed was also a large window, but the blinds were down on it, just like the blinds were down on the doors to the right of her.

She could just make out that it must have been evening time. It looked dark out. Or maybe it was during the early morning sunrise. Whatever it was and wherever she was. The sheer panic she felt to be waking up in an unfamiliar environment, as well as the pain her body felt was enough to cause her stomach to drop suddenly.

Hundreds of questons flooded through her, wanting to know why she was here, what had happened, why she was laying in a bed in the middle of a hospital room, silence around her apart from the heart rate monitor beside her, that was already beginning to annoy her and the sound of her heart beating rapidly caused more panic to come over her.

The woman blinked a few times, trying to focus properly on what was going on here and fight off all the uneasiness she felt. Slowly she looked down at her right arm, seeing an IV drip going into her skin, with some form of liquid drug inside that she was sure knew was trying to fight off the pain she felt.

What had happened to her? Why was she here?

It had been a long time since she had been in the hospital. A very long time.

She began to freak out, overthinking every horrible situation she could as to why she had ended up here. Her first initial thought was that she had drunk herself to death nearly, that she had relapsed over some matter. But right now, she had no clue what that reason would be and why it would make her do something so stupid.

Nothing was making sense in her mind. It was making her feel more awful than she felt. Her heart rate was picking up the more her body flooded with anxiety, her fight and flight trying to protect her from the danger she felt about being in the hospital room alone.

Right now, she needed a distraction from how she was feeling. It was too much. She needed to find out what was going on and why she was even here.

Her eyes spotted a card and a teddy bear sat on a small wooden table to the left of her. Mustering up as enough energy she could and also fighting off the pain she felt erupt over her sides when she brought her arms up to grab the objects.

Holding the bear under her arm, she took a hold of the note off the front of the pair and slowly opened it up, shock and fear coming over her almost instantly when she saw what the note said, everything slowly began to make sense to her and the reasons why she was lying in a hospital bed feeling how she did.

Stop pretending to be a good girl when we all know the real you. Next time it will more than a bump to the head - A

How the hell did -A? Alison? Holbrook? Whoever it was even get inside her hospital room and be able to leave these two items here.

Carly felt sick to her stomach to think -A had done to this to her. She suddenly remembered the accident. The bright lights. The sheer panic she felt. It was just like she felt now. The impact of the crash. Being left there alone. The darkness taking over her.

Screwing up the note in her hands, she made her hand into a fist with the note still tight in her hand. The tears began to prick her eyes. Never in her life had she been made to feel so attacked and hopeless. This was so awful.

Thankfully the sound of the door opening, brought her attention away from her fears and instead on the man she wanted to see out of anyone appear from behind it. He was dressed in his usual attire when he was working, the white lab coat and green theatre suit, his glasses tucked into the top of his top and what differed was the concerned expression that had fell on his face to see her.

"Carly." John, her Dad, said closing up the door and coming over to the side of her bed.

"Dad." Carly burst into tears, relieved to see him, but also terrified as what had happened to her and what would happen when she was out.

-A was so on to her now.

"It's ok, shhh," John tried to calm her down, grabbing hold of her hand and squeezing it, knowing how hard this was going to be for her on her anxiety, waking up here after the terrible accident, "you're ok now. You're safe here."

Carly knew that was far from the truth. -A had left her note on the side of her hospital bed. She wasn't safe. -A could just walk right in and leave it for her. It could have been worse. They could have tried to kill her right there and then.

Instead, she decided to focus on the pain rather the emotions, "It hurts. So bad. I don't get what happened."

"I know it's hard to get your head around, but you'll be back to your old self in a few weeks," He explained to her, hating seeing her like this, but he had to be there for her more than ever before, "You're going to be fine."

"You promise?" She asked him hopeful, all her optimism and positivity had gone.

Carly was terrified right now.

"Of course," John flashed her a light smile, wanting his daughter to get through this, he would do anything to make sure she would, "Come here."

Pulling her closer to him, Carly slowly wrapped her arms around his body and suddenly winced when pain erupted over her front, "Ouch."

Backing away from the embrace, John glanced down at his daughter with a sympathetic smile, knowing full well why she was feeling pain like she was and probably wasn't the best idea to get her to move a lot.

"Sorry, Carls."

"Dad," Carly looked down at her body, realising she hadn't found out what injuries, aside from emotionally, she had endured, "What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing too serious, don't worry," John assured her, taking a seat down on the side of her bed, "a few bruised ribs, a graze on your head and a few scratches. But you were so lucky to not get off worse, Carls."

"You mean I've not broken anything or nothing internal?" She asked, somewhat surprised.

This pain was unbearable, she couldn't imagine if it had been worse, Carly would have been screaming and kicking.

"Nothing at all," He smiled at her lightly, "You're going to be fine. Just a few days rest and you'll be well on the way to recovery."

Forcing a smile onto her lips, she was the one to grab hold of his hand this time and squeezed it lightly, thankful and grateful to have him here. Carly would have hated any other doctor to have to treat her or support her other than her Dad. He always made her feel better and got her to look at things in a different way.

Maybe he was right, she had got off lucky and it could have been worse.

She wanted to believe so hard that it wasn't -A, but part of her knew it had to be. But she wouldn't tell him that. He didn't need to know about -A just yet. Plus she could already imagine he was worrying about how her anxiety would be after this accident.

Carly wouldn't let it win, just like she wouldn't let -A win however afraid she was, Carly was going to punish -A just like they deserved to be. Now Alison was locked away, it all lead back to Holbrook, either being her helper or being -A himself.

She was going to prove that.

Jason began to flick through some paperwork and files his Dad had left out on his desk at the office. After everything that had happened last night, Kenneth, hadn't managed to come into work today, which left Jason having to come in for him and carry on what ever needed to be done in his absence.

The man was stressed out and shocked that this had happened, but unaware that Jason's information had been the real reason as to why Alison had been took away by the cops last night, arrested for the murder of Mona and god know's who else.

As much as Jason was confused and angered by this whole mess, his mind was occupied more with worry about someone else. He had heard the news about the car accident happening down his road when he kept seeing flashing blue lights out of his window hours after the cops had left with Alison.

Jason wanted to know what was going on and if it had anything to do with the case, because in a town like this, new evidence and twists always occured after something was slowly getting solved. He began to wonder whether they had found another body or something much worse.

Heading out of his front door, Jason headed up the track toward's where the incident was occurring. As he grew closer to it, he could make out two cop cars, a fire truck and an ambulance. Whatever had happened here must have been pretty serious.

It wasn't until he grew closer to it and came to a halt in front of the police tape, not letting him progress any further that his eyes set on the crumbled up car in front of a tree trunk. The car looked so oddly familiar, that when Jason twigged as to who's it was and what must have happened, he felt sick.

It was Carly's car. He had started to recognise the number plate after growing closer with her. It had to be her. But there was no signs of the girl around. Maybe they had already taken her body in another ambulance or worse maybe she was dead.

He had to find out. Jason couldn't just let this slide. He needed to know if she was hurt or what was going on with her.

Jason had called a cop over to him, explaining that he lived up the road and wanted to know what had happened here tonight. The cop informed him that a young girl crashed tonight, but she's in hospital and going to be fine. Jason felt his stomach drop in relief that she was going to be ok. But it didn't make him feel at ease that this had happened to her.

Nor that he couldn't go see her at the hospital, be there for her and comfort her through this horrific time. There was no way he was going to be able to. Her Dad worked there. No doubt he'd be the one over seeing her and being with her as much as he could. There was no way Jason could just turn up.

Her Dad would be furious, not only at him, but his daughter also that they were in talks again and also involved with one another. Jason couldn't go see her. It was far too risky. But it didn't make him feel better knowing she had crashed near his house and he couldn't even let her know he wanted to be there for her.

It wasn't like he could even send her a text or call her. No doubt her Dad would be guarding her phone and the rest of her belongings until she was out and better again.

That was the whole reason why he had been so stressed and on edge that day. He thought work could be a good distraction from how he was feeling, but in all honestly it was just making him overthink everything to do with Alison and Carly.

Ashley Marin, Hanna's Mom, and also someone who worked with Jason's Mom, Jessica, at the real estate business, was also in the office with him today, helping Jason with the work and sorting through Jessica's things.

After witnessing how distressed Jason looked, Ashley jumped to her feet and tried to make a conversation with him, knowing he was probably struggling with what was going on with his sister and also his own problems.

"So I opened everything that looks work-related and I just figured eventually I would forward your mother's mail to you."

"Thanks." Jason responded, when she came to stand near him and he closed the file in his hand, relieved he could just talk to someone rather than be consumed by his own thoughts, "So how's Hanna?"

"She's focusing on the future," Ashley informed him, somewhat proudly, "She's actually leaving later today for a weekend away at Ballard College. It's a big decision."

"Look's like you've made one too," Jason commented, a little more bitterly than intended, but his mood was getting the better of him today, "I'm guessing since you're faxing out your resumé."

"Yeah," She nodded slowly, feeling bad and awkward he had to find out like that, "I saw something that looked potentially interesting and I thought I should..."

"You leave and I'm stuck working with some stranger," He began to express his concerns, wanting her to rethink this, "someone who'll ask a lot of questions about my family."

"I have a few about your sister myself," Ashley informed him, causing Jason to sigh lightly at this whole mess, "Honestly, Jason, maybe you would be better of just starting fresh with someone new here."

The woman began to wonder back over to her desk, feeling like things were getting a little too tense now and Ashley didn't want to upset him when he was going through such a hard time. She could see how stressed he looked.

"I don't agree," Jason told her, laying the files down on the edge of his desk and looking at Ashley, "Is there anything I can say to get you to stay for one month? Just till I feel confident enough to say that I belong here and really believe it."

Ashley stared back at him, unsure of even how to respond to that, part of her felt sorry for the guy and the other just wanted to be out of all of this already. It was so exhausting for her as a mother of one of the girl's involved.

"I don't know, Jason."

"I get it," He nodded slightly, before he picked up the files again and headed over to the filing cabinet, "Did you hear about the accident near mine last night?"

"Oh yes, I did," Ashley responded, thankful Jason was moving on from this subject, "it was that new cop, wasn't it? Carly Monroe."

"Yeah that's the one." Jason kept his head turned from her, not wanting to show how he really felt about the mention of the girl that meant the world to him.

"Must have been awful for her," She continued on, remembering her from when she dropped Hanna home that night for drinking, but Ashley decided not to mention that out of embarrassment and it would surely be triggering for Jason, "never any good news in this town."

"I know," Jason agreed, filing away some files now, trying to hold it together, when all he wanted to do was storm out the office and run to the hospital to be with her, "but she's in safe hands most probably. Her Dad works at the hospital."

"Oh," Ashley was taken back slightly at how much Jason seemed to know, "does he? You know about her?"

"Uh she's a few years younger than me," He found himself mentally hitting himself for dropping himself in it slightly, now he had to cover his tracks and make it out like he didn't really know her, "everyone know's everyone in this town."

Before Ashley could quiz him any further on the matter or even just move on from this, the telephone's around the office began to ring out, causing her to lean forward and retrieve the call from her desk, whilst Jason was busy looking at the files in the corner of the room.

"Uh, no, Alison," Ashley spoke out loud after a while, causing Jason to stop in his tracks when he realised it was his sister on the other end, "It's Hannah's mom."

 _"Mrs Marin," Alison greeted her from the other end, her voice was sad and desperate, "is my brother there?"_

"Your brother?"

Jason's head turned to look at Ashley, he gave her a look as to say 'no', he didn't want to speak to Alison. The guilt and sadness he felt about what happened was too much. There was no way he was going to keep going over the same stuff with her. He had to move forward.

 _"Can I speak with him, please?"_

"He's..." Ashley paused, looking at Jason, who shook his head once again, before turning back around, "...not able to do this right now. Can you call back tomorrow?"

 _"I need to talk to him." Alison demanded, close to tears._

"I'm sorry, Alison," The woman felt so guilty for doing this to her, but she had to follow what Jason wanted, "You'll have to call back another time."

Before Alison could press further and Ashley could feel more guilty, Ashley slammed the phone back down on the handle and looked at Jason. He slowly turned back round to her with a sorrow look on his face.

"Please don't make me do that again."

"Saying no is not as hard as taking the call." Jason explained why he couldn't talk to his sister.

"Have you seen her since..."

"Once," He informed her, earlier this morning he had gone to see her, but he would never go back, now it was gone midday, he knew his father would be making more visits through out it, but Jason wouldn't be coming along, "I can't go back. I can't even look at her now without thinking she might've had something to do with what happened to my Mom."

Laying in the hospital bed, Carly stared out at the window a few yards away from her, the sun was shining bright in the sky and she wanted nothing more than to climb out of bed, head outside and walk about in it.

No matter how exhausted she felt and how much pain she was in, Carly really hated staying cooped up inside all day long and particularly stuck in bed with nothing to do, but watch people walk past the window and coming to check on her throughout the day.

Her Dad was suppose to be coming back shortly to sit with her through some police questioning, which Carly really wasn't in the mood for and was quite anxious about. She was so use to being on the other side of the questions, the person asking them and figuring out what the victim or suspect really meant.

But now she was going to be the one not knowing what they'll ask, how she was going to cover her tracks about her real reasons behind going down the DiLaurentis road, knowing her Dad was already probably fretting over the same thing.

Yet as much as she was fed up of laying there and nervous about the cops coming in, Carly's mind kept flickering to Jason. She was worried about him, how he was doing with all of the Alison situation and how he was coping with regards to her. She didn't even know if he knew about her situation and if he did, Carly hoped he would be doing ok and not worrying too much about her.

She wanted him there beside her in the bed more than anything, bringing her flowers and a cute card, cuddling up to her and stroking her hair, letting her sleep when she needed the rest and making her laugh when she felt fearful when her mind flash backed to the situation.

But that would never happen. It was way out of ever being possible. Her Dad would never allow it. It would risk everything him showing up here and being there the way she wanted. All she could do was hope he was alright and that she would see him once she was better.

The sound of the door opening broke her out of her thoughts and in came her Dad, followed by two cops that she recognised from the station. Two that she hadn't had much interaction with, so it didn't make her feel at ease whatsoever that they didn't really know her.

John pulled up a chair and came to sit beside his daughter's hospital bed, whilst the two male cops stood at the end of the bed, one of them had got a notebook out of their inner jacket, along with a pen ready to write down some notes on her answers.

Carly knew the procedure and she just wanted to get it over with.

"Hi, Carly, I don't think we've full met before," One of them began, both of them presenting friendly smiles, but it still wasn't enough to ease her anxious mind, "I'm officer Williams and this is officer Snow."

"We've come here today just to ask some questions regarding the crash last night," The other, officer Snow explained, "It's just a police procedure, as you are most probably aware we have to do these things."

"We know that you're not feeling your best and probably still in shock about what happened," Officer Williams took over, "so if there's anything you can't feel you can answer because of how you're feeling or anything you want to know that you're unsure of then let us know."

"Ok." Carly nodded slowly, looking over at her Dad for reassurance and then back at the officers.

"Great, well," Williams looked over at Snow, urging him to start the questionings, "let's stall shall we..."

"So what were you doing yesterday leading up to the event?" Snow asked her first.

"Um, well I was at work most of yesterday," Carly began, leaving out the part where she had actually been with Jason at his house, "I had an afternoon shift, so I was finishing later on in the evening. We had some new information brought in a few minutes before I was due to clock off,"

The officer was writing down everything she was saying, knowing that job too well herself,

"so I went with Lieutenant Tanner to carry out the investigation, then by the time that was done I was finished for the day. So I clocked off and got in my car."

"Ok," Williams nodded, then finished what he was writing, "But you never headed home? Your car was found 10 minutes away from your apartment address."

"That is correct," She nodded her head this time, feeling the pressure starting to mount slightly, "I saw some cop cars pass by on my way home and I recognised one of them as Tanner's. The inner detective in me wanted to find out what was going on, so I followed them to the lead."

"And so you headed down there and then what happened?" Snow quizzed her for more.

"I saw that Tanner and the rest of the cop cars were coming back up as I had just got down there. I thought I better turn around and follow them back to the station," Carly explained, knowing this was far from the truth, but she couldn't say her real reasons for being there, her Dad would go crazy,

"I really wanted to know what the new lead was or if they had carried out the arrest they were planning on."

"And then?" Williams pressed.

"And then...car lights...from the opposite direction came out of nowhere," She found her stomach dropping when she retold the story, the sheer panic she felt when it all occurred hit her, her hands began to sweat and her heart began to pound,

"They were on full beam. I could hardly see anything. The more they grew closer, the more I had to squint and look away," Carly began to feel tears hitting her eyes, she hated crying in front of people, she didn't want to be weak anymore,

"I couldn't see anything."

Upon seeing Carly beginning to get in a state, John grabbed his daughter's hand and squeezed it reassuringly, whilst the two officers decided to take a more relaxed approach, not wanting her to get more distressed.

"Are you ok to continue?" Snow asked her, before she slowly nodded back in response, "so the lights shining in front of you made you crash? It wasn't anyone coming into contact with you?"

"No," Carly shook her head slightly, before a light frown formed on her face, "but the other driver came racing towards me like they wanted to hit me. I didn't want to crash directly into them, so I swerved out of the way and went straight into a tree."

"Ok," Both of them nodded, Williams writing down what she had told them, as he continued to question her, "And this other driver, did you recognise them?"

"No." She shook her head again, "I couldn't see anyone at all. Just these bright lights."

"Do you have any idea who could have been driving the car?" Snow pressed.

"I have no idea." Carly lied.

John gave her hand another squeeze, causing her to look over at her Dad with a forced smile, glad to have him by her side through this horrible time. But it was also a reminder to her of what he did not know about her life.

He didn't know about Holbrook's threats, -A, Alison, Jason or that she was close to Spencer. John was so oblivious to it. It made her feel so guilty. But it was better this way. John couldn't know about those side of her.

He would so get her out of town and far away from all this. Carly didn't want that. She wanted to be in Rosewood working as a detective and she wanted to be with Jason, as well as help the girls.

Carly was staying put, just like she was in this hospital bed for the rest of the night.

Shutting up his car door, Jason locked up the car and headed toward's the front door of the house he had driven to after spending a long day stuck in the office. He really didn't fancy being alone tonight in some hotel in town, since his father had kicked him out earlier this morning and had urged him not to return.

Plus it was too risky to go to Carly's apartment for a few days. Her Dad could pop in any minute to check in on the place or gather some of her things to bring to the hospital. It was best he stayed away from everyone.

Last night he had and he had hardly got any sleep. Jason had stayed away most of the night tossing and turning, thinking if dropping Alison in like that was the right thing to do, hoping that Carly was going to be ok and also that he was going to be able to cope with all of this.

He had his own struggles. The alcoholism inside of him never went away, no matter how hard he tried. It was always there urging him to drink whenever he was alone. The drug side of him had calmed down a lot over the years, particularly after one incident that changed everything and he swore never again to touch any kinds of that stuff.

But alcohol it was different. Alcohol was easy to get and a quick release. Jason didn't want to be at home by himself or even with Kenneth around. He needed to keep his mind occupied and focused on something else.

Knocking lightly at the Marin household, Jason took a step back slightly and looked down at the file in his hand. Ashley had left him to go home for the night around two hours ago, but Jason had stayed and had decided to come over to seek her help with something he had found after she had left.

Plus it was going to be a massive distraction from his own thoughts and keep himself busy with someone who wouldn't judge him. Also he needed to still persuade her to stay working with him.

After a few moments, the door opened up and Ashley appeared behind, surprised to see Jason behind it, "I didn't expect you to be home,"

He told her, looking down at the files in his hand and then back up at her friendly face, "I was just gonna leave these."

"Oh what are they?" Ashley asked, interested to see what Jason had wanted to show her.

"Just some paperwork," Jason informed her, "but some of it didn't make sense. We have a tenant whose lease expired three years ago."

"I'm happy to take a look at it and see if I can sort it out." She offered with a warm smile.

"Great." Jason nodded, happy she would be on board.

"Do you want me to drop it off to your house tomorrow or..."

"I'm not staying at home," He informed her, somewhat sadly, "I'm staying at the Edgewood. Oh. My father made it very clear I'm not welcome since my sister...left."

"Why?" Ashley asked, confused why Kenneth would do this.

That man had already put Jason through enough over the years.

"Probably because I'm the one who got her arrested." Jason confessed.

Feeling shocked and saddened for the man in front of her, Ashley pulled open the door a little more and ushered him inside, "Have you eaten?"

"Uh no," He answered her, realising she wanted him to come in, so he slowly wondered inside and allowed her to shut the door behind him, "I haven't."

"Come on through," Ashley began her way toward's the kitchen, wanting Jason to follow her in which he did, "we can look over that file."

Carly had just finished a tub of fruit the hospital cater had brought to her a while ago, along with some soup and bread, that she had tried to eat but she just wasn't hungry. Everywhere in her body ache. She was tired. Carly was anxious and freaking out. But most of all she was lonely and missing Jason more than ever.

Her Dad was now undergoing his shift for the rest of the night, since he had been looking after her for the past twenty four hours, his boss had urged him to go home and rest, but John had reassured him once he had finished the rest of his shift today and made sure his daughter was ok before she slept tonight, then he would head home and be back as soon as possible the next morning.

But apart from her Dad, Carly wasn't expecting anyone else aside from the nurses to check on her. She didn't really have any friends here. Brooke probably didn't even know what had happened to her and it would be pointless of her to come all this way when she would probably be discharged by the next day.

So it completely through Carly when she saw Spencer enter her hospital room a few minutes later, a sheepish smile on the teenagers face when she saw Carly's confused one from the hospital bed she was sat up in.

"Spencer," Carly said, surprised to see her, as she pushed the fruit pot away from her and laid her hands on her lap, "What are you doing here?"

"I heard about the accident," Spencer told her, coming over to the side of the bed and taking a seat down on the chair John had been in and out of all day, "I thought I better come check on you."

"Is everything ok?" Carly asked, when she stared back at Spencer and could see the girl looked upset.

"Uh it's nothing," The teenager brushed it off, wiping under eyes, worried she had left some tear stains, "just Toby drama."

"Oh no," Carly felt more tense at the mention of the cop who had integrated yesterday and still didn't like her, the whole reason she had wanted to go be with Jason so she could rant away to him, "Want to talk about it? I could do with ranting about him."

"Oh no it's fine," Spencer shook her head, not wanting to go into what the argument with her boyfriend had been about, Carly couldn't know about it, "I am sorry he still hasn't warmed up to you."

"It's fine."

"So I've come to see how you are," Spencer wanted to get back on track as to why she came, instead of focusing on her drama's, "you look better than expected."

"Well thank you, I think ," She smiled back at her lightly, not knowing whether to take that as a compliment or not, but she did know that Spencer had probably come here more for the sake of finding out why the crash had happened,"but I get it. You want to know what happened."

"Did something happen?" Spencer began, looking between Cary's body and then her face, "I mean aside from the crash, but did something happen to you?"

"I was in a car accident, Spencer," Carly reminded her, wanting to play this cool and not reveal too much, only her concerns for -A, "the other driver tried to come at me and I swerved out of the way."

"This was around the same time Alison got arrested, right?" Spencer presumed.

"Yes," She nodded lightly, "but that doesn't mean I don't think this was -A."

"Why?" Spencer asked, a little surprised Carly actually thought -A could do this to her, things still didn't make sense as to why -A would target Carly, but they all thought Alison was -A and she was pretty occupied in hand cuffs at the time of the crash, "Alison couldn't have done this."

"I know," Carly agreed with her, but this person who had tried to hurt her wasn't going to back down, "but the other driver wasn't going to stop until I got hurt. They were there for a reason, maybe not to hurt me, but when they saw that I was there, they took the chance."

"Why?" Spencer needed to find out more, she couldn't let this slide now -A her possibly purposely tried to hurt Carly, "why would they want to harm you?"

"Because -A is out to get me just as much they are out to get all of you," Carly explained to her, a lump forming in her throat, "if Alison was arrested last night when the crash happened, then she had to have someone working with or we know for sure now that someone else is -A."

A = Holbrook.

"Ok," Spencer nodded, understanding why she would think that, because they believed also that Alison must have had someone working with her, after what had happened to them last night also, "I can see your point. We all agree. Something happened to us too after Alison was arrested."

"What? What happened?" Carly asked worried.

Had this been why Toby and Spencer had fallen out?

"Just some crazy fireworks display from -A that sent a message to us," Spencer kept it brief, causing Carly to frown back at how crooked -A was to do that, "but that doesn't matter, because right now, I need to know why -A would do this to you."

Carly looked back at her, uncertain of how honest she wanted to be with the teenager, when she had vowed to herself never to talk about her past to anyone who did not know. But since coming to town she had regrettably informed Holbrook and was now even contemplating telling Spencer some of her secrets.

The secrets that might make Toby trust her and also give Spencer a clear message as to why -A would target Carly too.

"The summer Alison went missing, I did some pretty reckless things," Carly explained to her, her voice quiet and sad as she briefly confessed, "reckless things that no one would ever believe I would be capable of."

"Like what?" Spencer questioned further, seeing how much it took for her to open about it.

It had to be pretty serious and had been hard on her to act this way about it.

Carly kept up such a guard all the time.

Her eyes flickered down to her lap, unsure of how much she wanted to reveal now, that had took much out of her just to say that. But now Spencer was urging her further than Carly would have wanted.

"Stupid things, stupid choices," Carly answered, that guard still there and overpowering, "stupid people I hung around with. Bad mistakes. Bad consequences."

"We've all been there." Spencer tried to assure her that it was ok to her the truth.

"I know," She nodded slowly, knowing all the hardship Spencer had been through over the years, her own drug struggles and trip to Radley, "but I've grown up since then. But -A can't seem to understand that."

"-A doesn't get anything."

"Holbrook doesn't get it," Carly corrected her, suggesting her theory once again, "I'm convinced it's him, Spencer. He went to Alison for dirt on me and I told him something personal months back. It makes sense to me that he's -A."

"I can see where you are coming from," Spencer nodded, but she still wasn't sure it was him, "Hanna's gone to track him down and question him."

"Really?" She was surprised to hear this, Hanna was a lot braver than she felt right now.

But Carly was determined to not let her fears ruin her chances of pushing him back off his pedestal.

"Yeah," The teenager said, before she looked down at the watch on her hand, "I should probably head back now before visiting hours end."

"Uh yeah," Carly sent her a small smile, as Spencer climbed up from the seat, "thanks for coming."

"No problem," Spencer assured her, "I'll work on Toby. He should come around soon. Thanks for telling me about what happened and your past. But you really don't have to hide anything from me."

"Trust me, I would love to open up to you, but I just can't," Carly explained, tears starting to prick her eyes and she swallowed away the lump in her throat, "it's too complicated and messy."

"I get it," Spencer knew the feeling, "but we're a team now. So I'll be all ears when you're ready. Get better soon."

"Thanks, Spencer."

"Have you seen Jason?"

Carly frowned back at her, trying to hide her embarrassment and uneasiness, but her cheeks were already starting to flush and her heart was beating so hard in her chest, more than it had when Spencer had first got there.

"Sorry," Spencer shook her head, a nervous laugh following after, "totally inappropriate."

Going over to the door, the teenager put her hand down on the handle, wanting to leave and get rid of her embarrassment for totally intruding on Carly's life again, just like she had just by coming here.

"No," Carly called out, just as Spencer pulled open the door, causing her to stop for a moment, looking back at the woman in the bed, "I haven't."

Carly didn't know what came over her, but she felt like she could trust Spencer with the whole Jason thing. He was her half brother. They shared the same blood. They had confided in each other before. Carly confided in both of them all the time. Carly could trust Spencer not to spread the information round like wildfire, because she knew it was Jason on the line too.

Nodding back at Carly, Spencer gave her a small smile and then slipped out of the hospital room, leaving Carly to sink down on her hospital bed and sigh to herself at how messy this situation was. But more than anything she wanted Jason here with her.

* * *

 **Author note: Ahhh Carly managed to survive! Of course I wouldn't kill her off, she still has to be with Jason, get pay back to Holbrook and find out who -A is!**

 **I really hope you enjoyed this part!**

 **Special thanks to , EllieBelle4444 & RHatch89 for reviewing the last part. Your words are so kind and encouraging so thank you.**

 **Oh my god, *SPOILERS* but have you guys seen the promo for next week's PLL? Oh my god, Jason! His hair. I kind of like it. It so suits him. I can't wait to see next week's episode now and to see what his and Aria's little secret is going to be ahhhh.**

 **Thanks so much,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	38. The Rosewood Cops

**The Rosewood Cops:**

"Maybe Jessica had a verbal agreement with these tenants."

Jason glanced over at the woman beside him at the counter they were sat at, Ashley had cooked them some steak and salad with some water, they had been going over the file for the past half an hour into their dinner, trying to figure out what it was all about and why the lease had expired so long ago.

It had been good company being with Ashley and having dinner cooked by someone else. It had been a long time since he had been treated properly. Carly was always busy working and finished later than him, so it was nice he was getting the chance to be dined for once.

Not that he was mad at Carly for that, he understood why it was that way and also he knew that he couldnt be with her tonight. But it was easing him to have someone there for him tonight, treat him like he was normal and focus on something other than all the bad stuff that had happened in their lives.

"Probably," Jason nodded, settling his cutlery down on his plate, "people thought my mom was a hard-ass, but truth is, she used to cry at dog food commercials."

"Me too," Ashley smiled over at Jason, also finishing off her food, "I don't even have a dog."

"You should," He advised her, before his eyes rolled around the kitchen they were situated in and back on the woman beside him, "if you're gonna live in this big house all by yourself."

"Don't remind me," She told him, half jokingly, "The day Hanna moves out...I'm just not as fond of my own company as I used to be."

"Why's that?" Jason asked intrigued by this.

He could relate. Sometimes he hated being alone, especially tonight he didn't want to go back to some random hotel room, worrying about how Carly and Alison were doing, one locked inside for murder, the other shut away from the outside world with physical and probably mental scares.

"I don't know," Ashley looked away from him, like she was deep in though, "I don't know. So much has happened the last few years. I think I'm scared of the white noise in my head."

"I can relate."

Smiling over at him, Ashley was pleased for his company tonight, wanting to make sure he was alright and felt like he was deserving, "Can I get you anything else to drink? I have decaf."

"I'm fine." Jason assured her.

"Let me take your plate." Ashley slipped off her stool, leaning over to take his plate, but her eyes caught his lips.

She found herself moving in to get closer to him, the vulnerability he was giving off, as well as the loneliness she felt that Hanna was out of the house and also her boyfriend wasn't around made her want to find release in Jason.

Lighting she pecked his lips, before he quickly leaped up from his chair, in shock and also pissed that she had done this to him. If Jason would have known Ashley was moving in to kiss him rather than pick up his plate or even just inviting him for her own pleasure, he would have took it over to the sink instead or not even bothered coming inside.

Why had she just done that? Why had she kissed him?

He wasn't a single man nor was he interested.

But she wasn't suppose to know that. Ashley presumed he was single and alone, she had no idea that he was dating someone, the exact girl they were talking about earlier and Ashley had guessed he knew. But Jason had brushed it off, so no wonder Ashley thought it was acceptable to make a move on the guy.

"I'm sorry." She quickly apologised, feeling embarrassed and hurt.

"Why did you do that?" Jason asked, the anger in his tone a little harsher than intended.

But he couldn't have Ashley ever do that again. It was so wrong and not what he even wanted. Carly should have been the one comforting him, making him dinner, kissing him and making him feel good. Not one of his mother's friends.

"I'm sorry," Ashley apologised again, laying the plates down, as Jason stood a few yards from her uncomfortably, "just consider that a thank you for being my company tonight."

"I'm seeing someone." He informed her.

She raised her eyebrows up at this, a little taken back, but not surprised when he looked the way he did. If she was younger and more his age, there was no doubt she wouldn't like the guy and make a move like she had with more confidence, enough confidence to entice him in.

But if he was seeing someone, then Ashley already had an idea in mind who it was.

"The girl in the accident?"

Jason looked over at her, keeping silent, but silence spoke a thousand words to Ashley. She now knew that Jason wasn't single and was actually with the girl in the car accident last night. No wonder he had been more tense than she was expecting. He must have been so worried about her.

But why couldn't he see? Why wasn't he there visiting her? Visiting hours normally finished by now, so why couldn't he have gone there before, then headed for dinner and back to a hotel? Or even stayed at her place?

"I've gotta go." Jason said, breaking the silence and needing to leave what had just happened, including the kiss and the confession behind.

Quickly, he spun round on his feet and headed over to the door, Ashley deciding not to go after him and instead watch him leave out her front door, knowing she had made a right fool of herself and also upset Jason.

Once Jason was outside and hopped in his car, he ran his fingers over his face and brought out his cell phone. Unlocking it, he went onto his photo app and began to flick through the photos of him and the girl he loved.

A sad smile fell on his lips to see them both looking so happy and loved up, the distance they were both experiencing being away from each other was beating him up inside. Jason just wanted to go see her. Carly wanted him to come see her. But neither of them could.

Instead, Jason chucked his phone down on the seat and started up the car, before he pulled away and headed to the hotel he had checked in for the night. Knowing he was going to focus on some work, then try get an early night in, before he did something he'd later regret.

Like going to see Carly out of visiting hours, risking her Dad finding out about them or drowning his sorrows in booze, something he had not done in a very long time. Carly had been his anchor to bring him away from all that and without her he was struggling.

But he didn't tell her that. Neither of them had discussed much of their struggles with alcohol. None of them wanting to touch on such a sensitive and triggering topic. So all either of them ever did was feel nervous for the other.

It had been a few days since Carly was first admitted to the hospital after the emergency services rescued her from her car. It had been a few days since she had been wheeled through, passing in and out, the pain, the tiredness and the panic flooding through her body, wanting her to just shut her eyes.

It had been a few days since she had been targeted by -A, integrated by the cops, watched on by her Dad, confessed things to Spencer and basically hinted that she was involved with Jason more than ever before.

It had been a few days and now she was back in the comfort of her apartment. Her Dad had just left after spending a couple of hours with her, making sure she was ok both physically and mentally, as well as letting her know every so often that he was only a phone call away.

Once she had basically pushed him out of the door and to leave her alone, the sudden realisation that she was back in her own home and with -A, Holbrook or whoever it was out there, she felt the anxiousness grow in her stomach.

The same unease she had felt for a long time since being in Rosewood, but also what she felt at the hospital and in particular when she had got in the car with her Dad earlier on. It was the first time she had been in a car since the accident. Even though she wasn't driving, Carly felt apprehensive whenever another car passed or they had to break.

She didn't want to be fearful of cars and people after her. Carly wouldn't let it get to her. People had been through much worse in this town and were coping a lot better than she was inside. She wanted to be strong about this.

But she also wanted Jason with her more than anything now she was back home. She wanted him here with her, just like she had wanted him there at the hospital. But Carly had no idea where he was, if he was alright and what he had been up to whilst she had been situated in the hospital grounds.

Getting her phone out from her work bag for the first time in days, Carly slowly wondered into her room and plugged it into the wall, charging it up and waiting for it to turn on so she could get in contact with him.

As she was waiting, she brought herself over to the draws in her room and pulled open the bottom one. Shifting through it, she came across one of Jason's sweaters and brought it up for her face, inhaling the scent on it, it smell of him all over and she was reminded of how good he always smelt. The mixture of aftershave, as well as his masculine natural smell.

The sound of her phone vibrating and her message tone echoing around her apartment broke her attention off Jason's sweater. Going back over her phone, she hooked the sweater on her arm and sat down on the bed, her phone now in her hand and she scrolled through the notifications that had now appeared on the device.

There was a few from Melissa and Brooke, expressing their concerns for the accident, wishing her the best and that they would come see her soon, the others were from people at work, including Tanner who had surprisingly wished her a speedy recovery and also one from Spencer, letting her know that she was here whenever she wanted to talk about anything.

But none from the one guy who she wanted to speak to more than anything.

She was disappointed to say the least, worry and paranoia coming over to think that maybe had forgotten about her already. That the accident was a chance for him to get away and out of town, without having to apologise or explain himself to her. Maybe he just didn't want her around anymore and this was why he hadn't been in touch.

Sighing to herself, she slipped her phone back on her bed side table and looked down at the sweater in her hands. If Jason had done that to her, then she would never be able to trust him again or even give him another chance. That would really prove to her the guys actual intentions and that he wasn't the one she once knew.

As she was about to toss the sweater across the room in anger, there was a light tap at the front door and her chest tightened suddenly. After everything that had happened, her first initial thought was that it was 'A' coming to get her, to do more damage than they had first tried and finish her off for good.

Pulling herself up, she hissed when a pain came over her ribs slightly, before she wondered back through into the main living area of her apartment. Gradually she walked herself over to the front door, where she stood up on tip toes to look through the spy hole and felt her stomach flutter instantly.

Quickly grabbing hold of the door handle, Carly opened it up and the person behind it removed the bouquet of flowers from their face, giving her a big grin which instantly broke her out into one too.

"Jason!" She exclaimed, surging forward and wrapping her arms around his neck, wanting to just be close with him already, holding onto him and scolding when her ribs erupted in pain, a bad move on her front, "ouch!"

"You ok?" He asked worried, when she remarked and pulled away frowning, as well as clutching her side.

"Yeah just forgot I had injuries," Carly half joked, before she looked up at him, both of their grins growing again when they caught eyes, "Jay, I can't believe you're here."

"Of course I am," Jason smiled, so relieved to see her now after days apart, "I couldn't not show up now you're home. It's not like I couldn't come to the hospital."

Hearing him say that and being reminded of what had happened to her, she felt tears well up in her eyes uncontrollably, the feelings of loneliness, horror and sadness she felt to be stuck in hospital without him hitting her hard.

"Hey, Carls," He said softly after seeing her get upset, stepping forward with a bunch of flowers in one hand, a pizza box in the other, "come on."

Nodding her head slowly in agreement, she spun around on her feet and headed back inside the apartment. Jason followed her inside, kicking the door closed with his feet and going over to the table, laying the flowers and food down onto the surface, so he could comfort her properly like he had been wanting to for days.

Turning round to face her, Jason wrapped his arms around her body and carefully brought her into him. Carly slowly wrapped her arms around him, resting her head down on his chest and just allowing the tears she had been resisting off the past few days to just spill out from her onto the one man she needed to save her.

Hearing her cry, he shut his eyes tightly, wishing she wouldn't cry, but also understanding why she was so upset. This must have been so traumatising for her, especially with her anxiety and past experiences. He felt so sorry for the girl and now he was here, he was going to make sure she was alright and back to her usual self.

Rubbing her back up and down slowly, Jason lent down and pecked her forehead lightly, seeing the graze on her head from the accident where her head had took impact, "I'm here now, Carl's. Don't you worry."

"I needed you," Carly cried, pulling away slightly and looking up at him through her tears, "I needed you in the hospital."

"I know," He nodded, agreeing with her because he had felt the exact same, "I wanted to be there more than anything. When I found out it was you in the crash, I couldn't even comprehend it. It freaked me out."

"It freaked me out," She sobbed, as he lent down to wipe away some of her tears, "I woke up all alone in the hospital room so confused. I've bruised all my ribs, Jason."

"Carls," Jason sighed, feeling sorry for the girl and wanting to just take her pain away, "I'm so sorry."

"There's nothing no one can do," Carly assured him, "they should heal within a few weeks. I just have to take it easy."

"Of course."

"You do know why I was down your street, right?" She questioned him.

"You were following Tanner?" Jason presumed, as well as guessed.

"No," Carly shook her head, more tears spilling out of her eyes and down her cheeks, "I was coming to see you, Jason. I needed to see you after everything that had gone on with Alison. I needed to be there for you."

"Carly," he sighed, feeling more guilty than ever, it was his fault she was in this mess, "you shouldn't have."

"I had to, Jason," She explained to him, wiping her own tears now and shaking her head, "I had to see you. I had to be there for you. You're always here for me. It was about time I was there for you."

"It's because I can't stand the thought of you being alone, Carl's."

"And I can't either, Jason."

"What happened to you?" He asked her next, knowing it was probably too soon to ask her, but he had to know why she had crashed.

"What do you mean?" She responded confused.

"Why did you crash? I thought you were a good driver." Jason tried to make the situation a light hearted one when really it was far from it.

"I am," Carly said, shaking her head as she did so, "trust me."

"Then what went wrong?" He looked down at her.

"I don't know," she shrugged, feeling the tears prick her eyes again, "this car just came out of nowhere and it wasn't going to stop till I was out of the way."

"Carly," Jason sighed lightly, wiping away her tears again, "did you know who did it?"

"No," She shook her head, "I didn't see them. But I have a theory of my own."

"What's that?" He questioned concerned.

"I think it was someone who's working with Alison."

"Like who?" Jason frowned down at her, "How is that possible?"

"I don't know," Carly shrugged, "I just know this wasn't just some big coincidence. It was done on purpose to get at me."

"And you think Alison was behind it?"

"I don't know, Jason," She repeated, she was so confused and afraid, Jason could really see that and he hated it, "but she must have had help."

"Even locked away she is still wrecking people's lives." He grumbled, looking away from her guiltily.

"Jason," Carly breathed seeing how angry he looked, she lent up slowly and brought his face to look at her, "it's ok. We're going to be ok. I'm not alone no more. I have you."

"Exactly I'm here now," Jason reminded her, bringing his hands up to cup her face in his hands, his fingers wiping away her tears, "and I'm not going anywhere."

"You promise?" Carly asked, hopeful he would stay for the rest of night, she didn't want to be without him a second longer, "You'll stay?"

"Yes," He nodded, before leaning down and pecking her lips once, "I am staying."

Smiling up at him through her tears, Carly pecked his lips again and then turned her head to look at the table, "What's all this?"

"Flowers for you since I didn't get to bring them to you in hospital," Jason explained, wondering over to the table with her and handing them over to her, "I hope they'll brighten your day a little."

"They definitely have," She smiled at him, as she took the flowers from his grasp and looked down at the assortment of white, pink and red roses, "They're perfect."

"I'm glad you like them." Jason returned the smile.

"And this?" Carly laid the flowers back down, her eyes trailing over to the pizza box beside them, "You brought pizza?"

Leaning across, he opened up the pizza box to reveal a steaming hot americano pizza, "your favourite."

"Aren't you such a gentleman?" Carly remarked with a grin.

"Am I?" Jason asked surprised by this, after never having be referred to as a gentleman, as Carly wondered into the kitchen to grab them some plates.

Once she had gotten the plates, Carly began to make her way over to the couch, whilst Jason grabbed the pizza box and followed behind her.

"Yeah we were never like before." She answered, taking a seat down and Jason came to sat beside her, laying the pizza box in front of them on the coffee table.

"We never got this far before."

Looking over at him after hearing what he said, Carly found her smile growing more on her face. Jason was right. They never had gotten this far before. Heck, they had never even had the chance to start dating back in the day. This was the furthest they had ever gotten to and it felt amazing.

Leaning over to Jason, Carly pecked her lips out and placed her mouth on top of his. Feeling her lips there, he quickly moved his hands up to cup her face, bringing her closer to him and kissing her softly, having missed the feeling of her lips on his own.

After having kissing for a good few minutes, Jason and Carly slowly broke apart, both of them grinning from ear to ear, thankful to have each other in their lives and that Jason could finally be there for Carly after the accident.

Right now, he was a great distraction from her inner demons of anxiety and fear.

"I missed you." She told him, still looking deep into his eyes.

"I missed you."

"But I missed normal junk food more." Carly teased him with a smirk, leaning over and taking a slice of pizza out the box.

Jason couldn't help but shake his head in amusement at her statement, a light laugh escaping his lips also, "You're unbelievable."

"What?" Carly looked back at him unfazed, as he grabbed himself a piece of pizza, "You haven't been eating hospital food for days."

"No and I'm glad I haven't."

"I bet you've been cooped up with your home comforts." She teased him, already tucking into her own food hungrily.

"In a hotel room yeah."

"What?" She frowned back at him, surprised to here that he hadn't been staying at home, "what's wrong with your family home?"

"My Dad kicked me out after the Ali situation." He explained lightly, as he ate his piece of pizza.

"Jason!" Carly sighed angrily at his Dad's behaviour, she really disliked that man when he was messing with Jason's life and pushing his confidence, "You could have stayed here..."

"And risk your Dad coming over to the check on the place and find me sat here in my boxers."

"You sit in your underwear when I'm not around?" She raised her brows up mischievously.

It had been a long time since they had done you know what and Carly's lack of self control was definitely getting the better of her.

"Yeah.." Jason looked back at her.

"You don't do that when your with me." Carly responded, finishing off her pizza.

"No because my underwear is already off, Carls," He teased her with a smirk, feeling he exact same levels of arousal she was, "there half way across the room."

"Oh yeah."

"Yeah."

"Like mine?" She asked, putting her plate down on the table in front.

"Yours?" Jason was confused, was she referring to right now or a past situation?

Slowly standing up from her spot, Carly wondered over to the centre of the living room and began to pull off the yoga pants that she had on her legs. It was what her Dad had brought to the hospital to her earlier this morning to change into so that she could leave and not wear the hospital gown anymore.

Seeing Carly pull off her pants, revealing her slim soft legs caused Jason's chest to tighten and he felt more turned on that before. He couldn't believe he was already getting like this just because she was stripping off. But it had been such a long time since they had both been together properly.

Before Carly reached just below her knee, she stopped and looked over at Jason with a naughty expression. Slowly he stood up from the couch, wanting to go over to her and feel her body, but Carly quickly pulled the pants back up.

"That's not fair!" Jason remarked, pouting slightly at the teasing girl.

"You've got to wait for your dessert," Carly told him playfully, wondering back over to him, leaning up to peck his lips lightly and then taking a seat back down on the couch, "Main food first. Dessert later."

Rolling his eyes at her teasing him, Jason took a seat back down on the couch and grabbed himself another slice of pizza. Carly giggled lightly at his reaction, loving being in control and bath with the man she loved.

It always felt so good to be back round him.

And didn't the both of them know that a few hours later!

After finishing off their pizza, they grabbed a tub of ice cream out the freezer and a couple of spoons, before they sat down in front of the TV to watch a few movies for the rest of the night.

Jason's arm was securely wrapped around Carly's shoulders, keeping her close to him and making sure she felt safe in his arms. Carly had rested her head on his upper chest, her other arm wrapped around his front, snuggling into him and feeling relaxed for the first time in days.

But that was short lived half way through the second movie when Jason lent over to peck her forehead, causing her to turn her head and peck his lips instead. Seeing her do that, Jason lent in closer and pecked her lips a few times, being the one to really tease her now.

When things began to get heated between them, Carly hopped up from the couch, grabbing Jason's hands as she did, dragging him through into the bedroom with her and climbing up onto the bed.

Slipping off her yoga pants properly this time, Carly climbed on top of him and began to kiss him once again. Jason ran his fingers over her hair, loving the feeling of her on him and how good her lips felt to be back on his.

As things progressed further, Jason slowly began to pull her white v-neck t-shirt off her body, leaving her in a white lace-bra. His eyes scanned down her body, seeing the markings on her ribs caused him to look back up at her surprised.

"Are they from the accident?" He asked concerned.

"Uh yeah." Carly swallowed away the harshness that had formed in her throat after she had seen Jason look at them, she felt gross for having them on her body, it made her feel so unsexy, but she hoped Jason wasn't freaked out.

"Do they still hurt?" Jason looked back down at them again.

"Yeah," She nodded slowly, "but it's not unbearable. As I said, I just have to be careful."

"I won't hurt you," He reassured her, leaning down slightly and pecking them lightly, "I promise."

Sighing at his touch on her skin, Carly laid back fully on the bed, wanting Jason to keep doing what he was doing and just pleasure her body. She needed it. Carly wanted to feel amazing again. She was fed up of feeling gross, weak and afraid. Jason was the best person to take it all away.

And he did. Over and over again. All night long.

Before they crashed out, tangled in the sheets together, Carly laid flat out on her back because of her ribs, Jason turned toward's her, his arms wrapped around her back, his chin resting on her shoulder as they slept together.

For the first night in days, Carly slept like a baby with Jason beside her and Jason also found himself going to sleep feeling content for the first night in days.

This was where they belonged. Together.

 _The flowers look beautiful. Thank you again. And for last night. I miss you already :( - Carly xx_

Jason found a smile forming on his face when he hopped out of his car to see the text from the one girl who hadn't left his mind all day. The text she had sent made him feel more grateful than ever to have such a great person in his life and for once something good was going on.

After their amazing night together, Jason and Carly had tucked into a bunch later on in the morning, before Jason had to head out to for a lunch work meeting and Carly's Dad, John was heading over after his shift last night to check on his daughter.

That meant Jason to get out of there as soon as possible, which thankfully he had managed to get out of there and was now in the centre of town, waiting for his lunch date to show up.

Jason went to stand on the pavement, going over to stand against the side of the building, responding to Carly's message and then checking the time. He lifted his head up to look around his surroundings, seeing no signs of the person he was suppose to be meeting.

He knew how on time and organised they were all the time, so it surprised him that they weren't here already. But then in dawned on him as to why they must have decided to not show today. Because of the other night. They were still embarrassed and feeling tense over the situation.

It was then that Jason remembered that he hadn't mentioned anything to Carly. Mainly because he didn't want to worry her because it meant nothing to him. It wasn't his actions nor was it his fault. He hadn't made any suggestive comments, moved in for it nor had he kissed back. But he knew it wouldn't look good if he told her about it.

She already had a lot to worry about and right now he didn't want to ruin things between them. Plus he had no problem with Ashley Marin. She was a good friend to his Mom and he had worked with her over the past few months. There was no conflict between the two, but Ashley was certainly letting there be some.

As he looked back up and down from his phone again, he began to make his way down the street, seeing if he could locate her parked maybe somewhere near by or driving down. But as he got further down, Jason realised that she wouldn't be coming today to discuss work with him.

Instead he came face to face with another familiar face, causing him to call out to her "Aria."

"Jason." The teenager was surprised to see him in town after everything that had happened.

"Hey." He greeted her back, glad to see someone who knew the truth about what they had been through unlike the watchful eyes of everyone else.

"Hey."

"Are you meeting someone?" Jason asked the girl, looking around to see if she was.

"Yeah, yeah, I am," Aria told him, looking between her phone and around like he had been before, "but I don't think they're gonna show up,"

she looked back at him, as he nodded in response, an awkward atmosphere came over the two of them, both of them knowing there was probably things they had to talk about concerning his sister and most probably a friend they both had in common,

"How are you?" Aria asked him, breaking the ice between the two of them and also because she was interested, "Since..."

"Since I basically put my sister in prison?" Jason finished for her, as Aria flashed him a light smile, "Well, we can start at tense and work our way on from there."

"How is she?" She questioned, "She's tried to call us a few times, but..."

"You don't have to explain," Jason cut her off again, knowing full well how it felt to be on the receiving ends of Alison's calls and demands to see her, "I went to see her once. That was enough."

Suddenly Jason's phone beeped in his pocket, as he slowly brought it out and read over the new text he had received. It was from Ashley. She had in fact cancelled their lunch for today and wouldn't be meeting him, which meant he now had a few hours free where he was doing nothing.

He'd love to go be with Carly since she was still house bound because of the accident, but John would be there and that wasn't even an option, just like visiting or even calling her in the hospital wasn't either.

"Do you want to grab a bite?" Jason suggested, needing the company, "I was supposed to meet Ashley, Hanna's Mom, for a working lunch but she just cancelled. It might actually be nice to talk about Alison."

"Uh yeah," Aria nodded slowly, "it might."

Jason smiled back at her, before he began to head toward's the Grill they were beside and went inside to grab the two of them a table, Aria following behind him, hopeful that she could get some answers out of the DiLaurentis brother.

Once they were seated and had made their orders, Jason and Aria began to slip away from the small talk. Instead they began to quiz each other over the the topic of conversation that they both had in common.

Alison.

"Forget about the alibi," Aria said from across the table, "Does your Dad really believe her?"

"Doesn't matter," Jason answered, "I mean, he only know's how to protect her. He'll do the same thing on the witness stand, even if he know's what she's capable of."

"What do you think she's capable of?" She questioned him, slightly worryingly.

They had all been on the receiving end of A-'s or Alison's threats over the years, as well as her actions and they already had been pretty brutal.

How far could she really go to get what she wanted?

"A lot," He told her, fiddling with the straw in his drink, "I've seen her do things. I've seen her talk people into things. I mean, the way you girls used to follow her around..."

"Used to..." Aria corrected him, shaking her head as she did so.

Jason swallowed away the tension, feeling bad for not just himself, but also the other girls in this mess, "I know you're not on the best of terms, but the police have a theory. They think she had help."

"With Mona?"

"After," He informed her, "Putting Mona's body in the trunk of her car, hiding it or dumping it."

"Yeah," Aria agreed with him, looking over at him curiously, "we kind of think the same thing. Do you remember when she passed that lie detector test?"

Jason lent back in his seat, knowing full well who Aria was suggesting her, he had heard the same name fall out of Carly's lips a number of times and even last night Jason could see she was hinting at it regarding the accident, but had just decided not to even say his name.

"Someone on the inside, who could change the results, make sure she passed." Jason aided to the situation.

"Is there anything you noticed between Alison and Holbrook?" Aria questioned him next.

"I've only dealt with him a few times," Jason replied, leaving out the fact that he knew about him kissing his sister and that he had gone to Alison for dirt on Carly, "Not that I would have noticed. I obviously know they have some connection. But Alison can get away with things right under your nose."

"Yeah, well, we think that they might be close," Aria continued on her views on this, "That she talked him into things."

She was so very right about that. But Holbrook had talked Alison into things as well.

"God what is it with cops in this town?" Jason groaned, scoffing as he did and Aria's phone buzzed on the tale, the only cop he trusted was the one he fell into bed with most nights during the week, the one he loved more than anything before.

"So you think that it's possible?" Aria asked, surprised Jason was on board with the same idea.

"I can't say for sure," Jason paused, wanting to be careful with what he said for Carly's sake, "I know he's done somethings that would lose him his job. But Ali's probably cut him loose by now. What else can he do for?"

"Did you get your actual information from the cops," Aria found herself quizzing the guy now, wanting to find out if the speculation between the girls was true, "or Carly herself?"

Looking back at Aria, Jason felt surprised and thrown to hear her question that. He didn't know how to respond to that. Jason hated lying. But for Carly's sake he would. He knew she didn't want anyone to find out about them because of her job and her Dad.

Jason was respecting that choice and sometimes he loved being able to sneak around with her, it was fun and kept things peaceful without people butting in. But sometimes he wish he could go out in public with her, not be restricted as to when he could see her or call her, as well as be able to talk about her freely.

Despite all that, Jason was now more concerned about how Aria knew that they were close.

Was it that obvious?

"The cops of course." He told her with a small smile.

"Right." Aria forced a smile back at him, knowing there was more to it than that, but Jason hadn't denied he was close to her, so that at least counted for something.

Spencer had suggested it a few times to the girls, Aria being close to Carly growing up really wanted to find out if it was true. It would be cute if it was. She'd always admired Carly and Aria had been close to Jason at one point. Though they were the exact opposites, Aria imaged they would be good together.

But what was stopping Carly and Jason from going public about it?

If only the girl's knew the real reasons.

* * *

 **Author note: Hello lovelies! Back with another update and one I hoped you enjoyed this part, especially the Jason and Carly interaction after her accident. Do you think Jason handled the Ashley situation well? I of course couldn't have him cheat on Carly after all this time, he finally got her and he wasn't going to be stupid enough to do that to her.**

 **Special thanks to Rhatch89 and LiLuLo12 for reviewing the last part! Trust me, Carly will stand up for herself soon and won't be taking anymore shit from Daddy Monroe.**

 ***SPOILERS* Oh my god! Have you seen the latest pll episode? Jason! Him and Aria? nooooo! I definitely will not be making that happen in this story haha soz Aria. But I'm so happy Jason is back in it!**

 **I'd love to hear what you think before the next part :)**

 **Thanks so much,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	39. Busted

**Busted:**

Carly had just pulled out the dinner from the oven that night, when the front door opened and in came a friendly face. As she laid the tray down onto the counter top, she glanced over to the man now slipping off his jacket and hanging up near the door with his keys, before he slowly wondered over to her.

Taking the food of the trays and dishing it up onto the plates, Carly smiled when felt a familiar pair of warm arms wrap around her neck and she felt their soft lips press into her cheek, causing her to giggle helplessly at the touch.

"Hello." Jason mumbled into her skin, looking down at the food she had produced for them and her face.

"Hey," Carly continued plating up the food and once she was done, she turned her head round to peck his lips lightly, "good day?"

"Uh yeah not to bad," He pulled away, when she began to reach over to get them some cutlery out of the draws, "I was suppose to meet Ashley Marin for a working lunch, but she never showed."

"Oh," She frowned back, slightly puzzled by this, as she took out the cutlery and laid them on their plates, "why not?"

Taking the finished plates of the counter top, Jason headed over to the table, where Carly had already set it and laid out their drinks, "I don't know. I got there and was waiting for her. Next minute I get a text saying she's can't make it."

"Oh," Carly said again, going over to the table and joining him, "that's odd."

"I know," He avoided her eye contact, deciding on still not mentioning the actual reason why she had probably flaked on him, "how was your day?"

"Fine yeah," She said, the two of them tucking into their meal, just like a proper couple would, "Dad came over not long after you left and stayed for a couple of hours. Then I just caught up with what I've missed with work and responded to some emails."

"Ah your first day back tomorrow," Jason reminded her, looking over at her now, "are you feeling alright about going back?"

"I'll admit I'm kind of nervous," Carly informed him, the nerves had been sitting in her stomach all day and hadn't budged, "I mean being away and coming back is always strange, but I guess I'm just worried about seeing particular people again."

"Like Holbrook?" He guessed.

Looking over at him, Carly slowly dropped her cutlery, suddenly losing her appetite at the mention of him, "Like Holbrook."

"Carly," Jason said softly, watching her as she picked up her glass of water and took a sip out of it, "Do you think he was the guy in the other car?"

Pulling her glass away from lips, Carly rolled her eyes to the table and found a lump form in her throat. She didn't know why but she was afraid to admit the actual truth about her theories to Jason.

Maybe because she was terrified of him lashing out and going after Holbrook, which would then just make the situation worse. Or she was afraid that her constantly thinking it was him and worrying herself, would make her worse and then give Holbrook more reason to provoke her in and out of the station.

"Please tell me," He asked again, dropping his knife and fork, before grabbing her spare hand, entwining their fingers together, "you know you can trust me, Carl's."

"It's not that I don't trust you, Jason." Carly assured him, laying her glass back on the table.

"Then what it is?" Jason wanted to know what was stopping her.

"It's just..." she paused, looking up at him and for the first time realising there was tears in her eyes, "something else happened when I woke up in the hospital."

Carly had to be careful here. Jason wasn't aware of -A. She knew she couldn't mention them properly, because it would mean bringing the teens of this town also involved, without their permission.

"What?" He asked, more concerned than ever before now.

"I woke up and I saw a stuffed animal and a note on the table," Carly began to explain to him, "So I picked it up and read it. Whoever it was from, the person knew about the crash and had targeted me purposely. That's how I knew it wasn't just by accident. The person had wanted to hurt me on purpose."

"And that purpose is Holbrook."

"I don't know that for sure, Jason," She could already see he was getting annoyed, Carly had to calm him down, "I'm just assuming because he's the only one aside from Alison who would be out to get me."

"You're not the only one with that theory."

"What do you mean?" Carly was puzzled now.

"After Ashley didn't show earlier, I bumped into Aria and we decided to grab lunch together to talk about Alison." Jason told her, letting go of her hand.

Carly was surprised Jason and Aria had lunched together, but she also knew they had a past connection, "What happened?"

"We were just talking about Alison and then Aria suggested that someone from the inside was helping Alison," He explained to her, "just like what you've been suggesting. The girl's think it's Holbrook too."

So Spencer was finally on board with her theory as well now. Thank god it was about time. Carly had been saying it for weeks that he was guilty.

"It does make sense, Jason," She slowly nodded her head, "Holbrook went to Alison for dirt on me. He would surely have to pay her back somehow. Plus they were together at the ice ball..."

"Don't remind me," Jason groaned, the idea of a cop and his sister together, was enough to gross him out like the thought of his ex-best friend Ian and Alison together, it was messed up, "I'm fed up of the crap cops in this town."

"Oh."

"Not you, Carl's," He assured her, after she had sulked across the table, "you just can't trust no one."

"I know," She agreed, nodding her head again, "but we have each other and I'm working on staying on a civil ground with everyone for not only my job sake, but everyone I care about too, including you."

"But I can see your terrified of going back tomorrow," Jason expressed his concerns for her, "I know you don't want to see Holbrook."

"He might not even be there, Jason."

"And somehow I hope he is back already," He could feel his anger starting to rise more and more, "because I'm going to walk over to the station right now and give him a piece of my mind."

Quickly Jason rose to his feet, causing Carly to panic and get up from her own spot up the table, heading over to the door with him, trying to get him to stop and rethink what he was going to do.

He was planning on walking into a station, hurling abuse at a detective, exposing all their secrets and probably physically assaulting a cop. This wasn't a smart move for his sake and all their sake's. Jason couldn't act on his anger. He had to stop.

"Jason," Carly called out, grabbing his arm and making him stop at the door, "stop. You don't need to do this."

"I can't stand back and watch him upset you anymore, Carly," Jason explained, grabbing his jacket off the peg, "it's not on. He's messing with you and trying to hurt you. I can't let him do that. It's so wrong and unprofessional. He need's to be put away for this."

"And you going in there full of rage isn't going to help any of us," She warned him, taking his jacket off him, "please, Jason. This will only make things worse."

"So I've just gotta sit back and let him continue harming you?" He couldn't believe she wasn't letting him go.

"Yes," She nodded slowly, "if that what it takes for you not to do something stupid, then yes, Jason. I am not letting you go down there and risk everything."

"But I swear if he touches you or anything..."

"Then you'll let me deal with it," Carly finished for him, knowing that was far from how he really felt, he wanted to save her, "I can do this. I'm stronger than you think, than he thinks, Jason. He doesn't know what's going to hit him when we're back at work."

"You really think you can do it?"

"Don't you believe in me?"

She was hurt at his lack of belief in her.

"That's not what I said!"

"But you implied it..."

"No, I just want you to be safe and ok," Jason reached out and laid his hand's on her shoulders, "I don't want you to risk your life for some crooked cop."

"I took the risk as soon as I joined the law enforcement," Carly reminded him, as well as herself, "I risk my life everyday being involved with crime. I can handle Holbrook."

"But your just.."

"What?" She raised her eyebrows up, "A little girl...little Monroe?"

"Well that's a name I haven't heard in a while." Jason smirked.

"Shut up," Carly fought off a grin back at him, "I'm serious though. I'm going to be fine."

"I really hope so," He leaned closer to her, "I'd hate anything bad to happen to you."

"It won't," She assured him, as well as herself, laying her hands on his sides, "and I'd hate the same to happen to you and it would if you walked out that door in the rage you were in."

"I know," Jason sighed, disappointed he let his anger get like that, especially in front of her, "I'm sorry."

"Not to worry," Carly assured him, leaning over and pecking his cheek, "you can make it up to me later."

She let go of him and wondered back over to the table, swaying her hips more than usual to tease him. Jason rubbed his lips together, watching her walk away, before he chased up to her with a smirk on his lips.

"Oh now that I am looking forward to."

Carly had been right not to worry or even think that Holbrook would have been around on her first day back since the accident. When she had first got into work this morning, Tanner had come to greet her and made sure she was alright, as well as explain to her what she needed done for the week.

Also the Lieutenant mentioned that Holbrook was still out of town, a mixture of family commitments and work investigations. Cary had decided not to question her further and keep her mind occupied elsewhere. At least she didn't have to worry about him being there, watching her, making snarky comments and trying to take her down.

For the first half of the day, Carly been catching up with work she had missed, looking through files, writing reports and looking over evidence with the help of another cop. She was just then coming back from her lunch break when she spotted a familiar teenager stood in one of the offices off the foyer, chatting to also a familiar cop who happened to be her boyfriend.

Slipping off her jacket and her bag onto the back of her chair, Carly went through the foyer and over to the office to investigate what the pair were up to, as well as why Spencer was even here during school hours chatting to Toby.

"Spencer," Carly said coming through into the office, her voice lingering with surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"I had to come speak to Toby." The teenager informed her, as Carly stopped beside her in the room, "you know that I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important. I'm really afraid Hanna's gonna do something stupid.

The trainee's eyes rolled over to Toby and what he had been looking at on the desk, the lie detector test results Holbrook had carried out on Alison lay in front of him. Carly raised her eyebrows up curious as to why he was looking at it, but then she could also see that maybe Toby had been trying to find a reason to bust Holbrook also.

Good plan.

But what was Spencer on about? Why was Hanna going to do something stupid?

"I need your help, okay?"

Before Carly could find out why Spencer needed Toby's help and what Hanna was going to do, the person they all didn't need turning up and busting them for being stood talking, appeared from behind them with a unimpressed smile on their face.

"Spencer." Tanner said, looking over at the teenager, wondering why she was there talking to her staff and also how she even got in from school.

"Hey." Spencer awkwardly greeted back.

"Shouldn't you be at school?" Tanner asked.

"Uh, I was just on my lunch break," She answered nervously, "so I should probably get going,"

Spencer looked back at her boyfriend with desperate eyes, "please call me soon."

Turning her head round to face Carly, Spencer smiled lightly at her, before she backed out of the room and headed for the exit of the station. Carly could feel Tanner's eyes burning into her, but she wouldn't give into the woman's glare, because then it would look like she had been doing wrong by being there and was guilty.

But all Carly had done was come back from her lunch and try figure out what they were up to. There was nothing wrong with that. Tanner was jumping to conclusions way too soon. She clearly was watching her more than Carly would have liked.

"Oh," Tanner said, causing Carly to finally look up and over at Tanner, who was looking down at the file on Toby's desk, the one that had also caught Carly's eyes, "what's that?"

"Alison DiLaurentis' case file." Toby responded.

"Oh," Tanner was surprised, but wasn't trying to think much of it, unlike she was about Carly, "brushing up on the facts before the trial starts?"

"Yeah," He nodded slowly, "but the facts aren't so clear."

"They rarely are in murder investigations." The Lieutenant explained.

"I think somebody might have manipulated," Toby glanced over at Carly briefly, then back on Tanner, causing Carly to realise what he was now suggesting to Tanner, he was going straight in there, "Alison's polygraph."

Tanner stared back at him confused, "Why would someone do that?"

"To make it look like she passed..." Carly found herself answering for Toby.

If he was going in on this, taking the risk for everyone else's sake, then he wasn't going in alone. She would help him.

"For somebody to change the results, they would know what she missed," Tanner began to inform the two of them, "And the only people there were Tom Higgins, who administered the polygraph, two Rosewood cops, Carly you were there also and..."

"Detective Holbrook."

Tanner glared over at Toby after he finished the explanation for her, she was shocked and angry that Toby was really suggesting this. It was so unprofessional and appropriate. She had no idea what would ever give him the idea.

But as she looked at Carly, Tanner could see the uneasy expression on the trainee detectives face and knew that Carly was also in on this ridiculous idea. Now Tanner was really unimpressed with the two of them. They had both done things to risk their jobs, but this was even taking it too far.

"Careful," Tanner warned the two of them, "don't make accusations you can't back up."

"I'm not making accusations." Toby defended himself.

"We're just saying it's a possibility." Carly added, not wanting to leave Toby to deal with all of Tanner's comments.

Plus she was trying to prove to him that she was serious about being on their side also.

"Why would Holbrook help Alison?" Tanner questioned the two of them.

"People saw them kissing at the Ice Ball Dance." Toby told her, Carly felt the tension rise in this moment.

Way too be subtle about it Toby. Carly would have probably left out that fact or not said it so specifically.

"People?" Tanner raised her brows, slightly amused, "You mean your high school girlfriend?"

"I looked into Holbrook," Toby began to explain, "he's not taking care of his father. His father isn't even sick."

"You have been a cop for all of minutes and you have the nerve to investigate your superior," Tanner snapped at him, then turned her head to look at Carly, "and as for you, I thought better. You work alongside Detective Holbrook. You've only been back a day and you're already throwing yourself under the bus..."

"That is not what I am doing.."

Carly felt hurt and mad at Tanner's remark. That was far from the truth. But Tanner was so blinded by Holbrook's good act that she couldn't see the real identity of the cop. If only she could have the balls to actually explain what he was really like.

Going to teenage girls for dirt on the new trainee detective because she wouldn't sleep with him or become his girlfriend, finding a sex tape of her and using it against her, how inappropriate of the detective.

But Carly was doubting Tanner would even believe her even if she was honest.

"If the two of you want to keep your jobs," Tanner continued, looking between the two of them, "then your little research and theories ends here."

Once Carly had headed off to work and Jason had made sure she was feeling alright about going back, he began to crack on with some of his own work. He was planning on working from Carly's apartment for the day, not fancying being in the office alone and he wasn't welcome back at his family home.

As he had just finished a phone call with a tenant, another notification popped up on his phone from an unsurprising ally. Ashley Marin, Hanna's Mom, wanted to meet him today instead for lunch after she bailed on their meeting yesterday.

Jason wanted to meet with her to get over the awkwardness that had lingered after she had kissed him, which he was still feeling strange about, but it wasn't bothering him too much since he knew it meant nothing to him. Jason had done no wrong. But he knew Ashley was hung up on her actions.

The lunch meeting today was going to be the perfect chance to get over that, as well as talk her into staying at the business, working with him, so that Jason didn't have to deal with bringing in someone new that would ask questions about his family and so he didn't have to face his Dad alone.

Accepting the lunch date, Jason left the house just after noon that day and headed over to the Grill where he ate with Aria yesterday to meet Ashley. On the way over, he sent Carly a text, letting her know he was thinking of her, hoping she was ok and that he couldn't wait to be back with her tonight.

When he arrived at the Grill, he could already see Ashley was inside up a two seated table waiting for him. Once he entered the place, her eyes rolled over to him and she awkwardly smiled over at him.

Joining her up the table, Jason took the space opposite her and tried to greet her with the best relaxed hello he could, already sensing her nerves and to be honest it was making him uneasy.

He was worried she'd try make a move on him again or even a suggestion.

Jason was hoping she wouldn't. He didn't want her to come between him and Carly. There was no way he was interested in this woman, but would she accept his refusal and keep pestering him.

Maybe having her working with him was a bad idea, but Jason wanted to remain optimistic and give her a chance. The business was running smoothly with her working there. They couldn't afford to lose her and have someone new join them.

After a few moments of awkward small talk, Ashley bent down into her bag and retrieved a file, "I revived the tenant contracts, made some notes. And I organised the contractors bills. They tend to overcharge for labour, so you've got to watch out for that."

Handing him over the file, Ashley was set in leaving her position at the DiLaurentis real estates and moving onto a new challenge. Jason was still unsure whether he wanted her to do this and knew he had to reassure her that she had a choice to stay, neither him or his father was kicking her out.

"You don't have to do this." Jason reminded her, after he took the file.

"Do what?" Ashley asked, pretending to be confused.

"Quit," He told her, "because of everything that's happened and in particular the other night."

"Yes, I do." She assured him, embarrassed.

"I admit it was unexpected," Jason began to explain, hoping that if he told her how he felt about the situation, it would persuade her to stay and forget what she did, "and I would have preferred if it didn't happen. But I've already moved on and forgetting about it. You don't have to leave because of it."

"Jason, I'm seeing someone," Ashley informed him, "and it's serious."

"How serious?" He asked, knowing he was in the same boat, but he had done no wrong.

Her on the other hand, she was the one to kiss him.

No wonder she was feeling guilty.

"Serious enough that he proposed to me last night." She answered.

"That is serious."

Jason couldn't help but feel shocked and confused by this. If Ashley was so serious in a relationship, why had she made a move on him and wanted to progress things further more than just a peck on the lips from her end.

He would never even think about doing that to Carly. She was the only one for him.

"He was gone for 3 months and our relationship had been a lot of phone calls and emails," Ashley tried to explain her reasoning for kissing him, more to herself than anything, "and I was lonely."

"I know what that feels like."

Jason hated being apart from Carly the few days he was. It hurt a lot more than being apart from her for three whole years.

"It wouldn't be right for me to keep working for you," She continued on her attempts to make him see things from her side, "I wasn't gonna stay past the end of the month anyway."

"Yeah. Yeah, I get it," Jason slowly nodded, understanding that she had already made her mind up, "Feel free to swing by the office this afternoon to pick up the rest of your stuff. I'll be out most of the day."

He had to let go of her and allow room for someone new to come in, even if it wasn't what he wanted and knew it would probably cause issues. But Jason knew he couldn't be selfish in this situation. If Ashley wanted to go, then he had to be mature and let her leave her position.

At least she'd be thankful for it and it meant less chance of her making a move on him again.

After their telling off from Tanner earlier on in the day, Carly was busy responding to some emails when she saw the Lieutenant make her way into Toby's office for the second time that day, although this time Spencer nor Carly were stood there and risking their jobs because of Holbrook.

Carly's eyes flickered between her laptop screen and the two cops in the far side of the foyer chatting away to one another. Within a few moments, Toby got up from his desk chair and slipped on his jacket, just as Tanner left his office area and began heading toward's Carly.

Feeling a new found nerves that were worse than before to be around Tanner, Carly quickly sunk a little lower in her seat and began to type a quick response to the email she had up on her screen, not wanting to look like she had been watching them and had actually been doing her job.

When Tanner's footsteps got closer and she could see Toby also lingering behind, the trainee detective slowly turned her head round to look over at them with the friendliest smile she could.

"Lieutenant Tanner," Carly began, slowly closing down her laptop lid and moving her chair round to face her, "What can I help you with?"

"We've just received an anonymous tip," Tanner explained to her, "I'd like you and officer Cavanaugh to come join me on this investigation."

"Of course," She responded immediately, thankful to be getting out of this office space for the day and also proving to Tanner that she was serious about this after their telling off earlier, "I'd be more than happy to join."

"Very well, come with me," Tanner instructed, turning back round and heading over to the exit of the station, Toby following behind her, as Carly quickly locked her computer and grabbed her jacket, "the tip was regarding a unit at one of the storage units just outside of town."

"A storage unit?" Carly asked confused, once she had caught up with them.

"Uh-huh," Tanner nodded, heading over to her car with the two cops behind her, "according to the anonymous person Mona's body is in there."

Carly felt her jaw drop slightly at this information, a little worried and also freaked out to be heading to a location where a head body could be found. It wouldn't be the first time, but it never got easier for her to see this kind of stuff and she wondered if cops ever got use to it.

What made matters worse was that it was going to be a body of a teenage girl. One who had her whole life ahead of her and a future to achieve things. If her body was found deceased, then there was no chance of that anymore and the people close to her would have to go through mourning all over again.

Shaking her head out of her thoughts, Carly slipped herself into the back of the police car with Toby and Tanner in the drivers seat, whilst another cop car followed behind them, encase they needed back up or reinforcements.

On the way to the storage unit, Carly could feel the excitement, nerves and uneasiness bubbling in the pit of her stomach. Investigations like this always excited her because it gave her the chance to grow, develop her skills, learn and expand her knowledge, as well as put the pieces of the puzzle together.

But also investigations like this terrified her to be in the middle of all of this. It was scary and so very real. But it was what she had signed up for, she knew the risks and the complications. Yet it was what she had wanted to be involved with since she was a little kid.

There was no turning back now.

After twenty minutes, Tanner pulled the car up outside the storage unit and immediately hopped out of the car, not wanting to waste anymore time with this investigation that had already been lost over the past few months.

With Alison in prison for Mona's murder and no information with regards to a body coming from the teenager, the team were having to rely on tips like this one and evidence of their own, as well as their theories to put together cases and bring justice to those involved.

Climbing out of the car, Tanner instructed one of the cops to wait outside the front, another to go find the manager so they could search the place and the two others to circle the building, whilst Toby and Carly followed her through into the storage unit facility.

With every step that Carly took through the building, she could feel the feelings she felt increase. Every so often, she exchanged looks with Toby, noticing an uneasy look on his face. She wondered if he was feeling the same apprehensive as she was, but she could tell something else was bothering him.

Carly began to wonder whether he knew more than he was letting on regarding what was going on here. It seemed like Toby knew what they were going to find or at least knew this place would be investigated.

Had something happened to the girl's that she was unaware?

Was this what Spencer had showed up to the station about earlier on that day?

Now her anxiety levels were growing more and more.

As they rounded a corner, they could hear voices coming further down the corridor they were wondering down. Carly could see Tanner's senses perk up to this, already knowing she would be taking in every inch of detail and would be expecting Carly to learn the same.

But with regards to the voices that they could hear, Carly couldn't even put a finger on whom was talking. She didn't know if it was due to how she was feeling or because she was simply wasn't good at that kind of stuff yet.

However as they turned down another corner, they came to an erupt halt when they met with two familiar faces. Carly could see the sheer panic that came across the girl's, already knowing that Tanner was suspicious of them more than ever now and the girl could already tell that she was busted for being there.

Now it all made sense as to why Toby was looking so on edge.

It was making Carly a lot worse and even confused as to why Hanna Marin and Caleb Rivers, Hanna's boyfriend and Toby's best friend were stood in the middle of the storage unit, the same unit they had got a tip to investigate.

Something had definitely happened.

"Hanna Marin and Caleb Rivers." Tanner greeted the two teenagers, the harshness present in her tone.

The woman was probably already putting the pieces together and writing them mentally down as suspects.

This was not going to end well.

"Lieutenant Tanner." They both responded in quiet tones.

"What are the two of you doing here in a place like this?" Tanner asked them with pure curiosity, as well as accusation.

"I asked Hanna to come with me to check out a storage unit. I'm thinking of investing in one." Caleb informed them, a little too persuasively.

Carly glanced over at Toby, who was staring dead straight at his friend, his once nervous expression, now blank and unreadable. He must have been trying to keep it straight for the sake of his own job on the force. No doubt Tanner would try twist things and make him appear more guilty.

Carly had been on the receiving end of that many times.

"So you're here to rent a storage unit?" Tanner wanted them to confirm it proudly.

"Yeah," Caleb slowly nodded, "just wanted to see what sizes they have available."

"You're a little young to have accumulated so much stuff." Tanner commented.

She was so good at her job that it really did worry Carly sometimes in regards to their own secrets. But she was pleased they had someone like Tanner to take down the actual guilty party, not them with their own secrets.

"Well, I just moved back to town," Caleb continued to keep to his story, "and the place I'm staying at doesn't really have enough room," he paused awkwardly, "for all my things, so..."

"I see," Tanner looked over at Toby, "Did you know your friend was looking to rent a unit here?"

"No," Toby answered honestly, "I didn't."

But no doubt he knew one of them would be here.

Hanna took a shaky breathe in, that certainly didn't go unnoticed to the cops opposite her. Carly felt her own heart begin to pick up in rate, worried how this situation was going to turn out.

Hanna and Caleb did look so suspicious being there at the exact same time as them.

"Nervous about something?"

Tanner picked up on Hanna's behaviour once again, just like she did with everyone and Carly was surprised Tanner couldn't sense the trainee's nerves.

"Yeah," Hanna responded, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder, "if I can make it to the bathroom in time. I really have to pee."

"Oh,well," Tanner wasn't believing the story, but she'd go along with it, "then you better get going."

Looking away from the three cops opposite her, Hanna brushed past them and Caleb followed behind her, both of them wanting to make a quick dash out of there and away from the watchful eyes of the cops.

"Do we need to wait for the manager to show him the search warrant?" Toby questioned, once his two friends had disappeared out of there and Tanner had stopped looking so suspicious.

"He's on his way over now." Tanner responded.

Turning around to look at where Hanna and Caleb had departed down, Carly noticed the electrics box on the wall had been opened and one of the wires out of it had been cut. Her eyebrows raised up at this, wondering if Hanna and Caleb had done this.

The wires came from the camera above by the looks of things, recording every single movement of the on goings inside the storage unit. This meant that the footage recorded from when it was cut and until now wasn't even being taken and the risk of the recordings being took from them was likely.

This meant they wouldn't be able to take away any of the recordings from inside the storage unit from the past few months, because somebody else already beat them to it and Carly was already guessing who that could have been. But this wasn't going to help the police at all.

If anything it was going to make the girl's more suspicious and put them more at risk.

This was there wrong doing, but Carly knew she had to put her job first this time, if the girls were willing to be so blind in their decision making.

"Look's like someone cut the wires."

Tanner rolled her eyes over at Carly, just as Toby did the same also, both of them looking over to where the trainee was staring at the wires, investigating where the damage had been done.

As Carly turned her head to look back at Tanner after a few moments, the Lieutenant t nodded her head slowly back at the younger woman, impressed with her observation and that she was actually thinking with her career brain rather than her social one.

But it still didn't put to rest the uneasy feeling Carly had about the consequences of the girl's actions today or any other day.

If it wasn't -A, Alison or Holbrook taking the girls down, then it was certainly going to be Tanner and the team.

* * *

 **Author note: Hello loves! I'm on a roll with uploading new parts every week. I really hope you are enjoying them as much as I am enjoying writing them. I literally cannot stop writing this story, so you can be excited for new parts coming every week without fail :)**

 **Special thanks to RHatch89 & guest for leaving a review on the last part!**

 **I'd love to hear your thoughts on this part!**

 **Thanks again,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	40. The Oath

It was a little later on in the day, Jason had continued to spend his day working from Carly's apartment. But it was getting to the point now where everything he could do from out of the office was running low and there was things over at the business that he could do.

As he checked the time on the dashboard of his car, his eyes rolled over to the business he ran with his family on the other side of the road. From where he was sat inside his car, Jason couldn't see Ashley's car parked around, so presumed she had been and gone for the day, meaning the coast was clear and she didn't have to face him anymore.

Jason had no problem with seeing her, but he knew that she didn't like being around him after the night and the slip up she made. He could agree at times it was awkward and uncomfortable, but Jason wasn't one to get hung up on silly things like that.

It didn't mean anything to him and he thought it hadn't to Ashley either. Yet she was still continuing to react to what happened.

Hopping out of his car, Jason crossed over the street and made his way over to the office building. Putting his keys into the lock, he opened up the door and pushed it open, surprised to see the exact woman still there sorting through her things.

"Oh, sorry," Jason apologised, slowly coming in now and closing the door behind himself, "I thought you'd be gone by now."

"I had some things to do before I could get over here." Ashley informed him, the awkwardness still in her voice.

"I'll go," He suggested, knowing she didn't want him around, as he turned to head back out, "let you finish up."

"That's alright," She assured him, "I'm almost done."

Looking back round at her, he offered her a small smile and his eyes trailed down to her hand, before he made a comment, "An engagement but no ring?"

"Yeah," Ashley glanced down at where Jason had once looked, "I haven't given him an answer yet. He's a pastor. And there are certain responsibilities that go along with marrying him. I'm not sure I'm cut out for that life."

"Yeah. I bet those church socials can be pretty brutal." Jason half joked.

He really wanted to lighten the mood between them and get back on good terms. Ashley didn't need to keep acting this way around him. Things were fine in his eyes.

"I wish it was that simple," She sighed, stopping what she was doing to look over at him,"I haven't always made the best choice. I just wouldn't want anything I've done to hurt him...or all that's he worked for."

Jason could relate to that more than anything.

Being with Carly he really didn't want to ruin her reputation for being a smart, well behaved and career minded girl, it had always been like that right from day one when they met, until now three years on now they were together and sneaking around behind closed doors.

He knew Carly never wanted her issues to come out. She knew it would break not only herself, but also her Dad who was hung on the idea of a perfect daughter and family name, like most brainwashed people in this town. Carly could never disobey him like that, not like she did back then and Jason knew he couldn't push her to.

It was neither that he thought she'd be embarrassed to be seen with him. Jason knew that Carly never thought that of him. He knew it was because of her father and her career, that Carly didn't want word getting out about her relationship with him and her past.

Even more than ever it was so important for her to be seen in a good light now she was working her way through her training to become a detective. There whole relationship was one big risk every single day, but it didn't put a stop to it.

Yet it made Jason think whether they would ever reach the engagement or even marriage stages. Jason knew Carly was the one for him and somebody he invisuined her to be his wife. But how could they even progress that far when no one knew about their relationship?

It would never work.

"Can I ask you something?"

Jason was broke out of his thoughts by Ashley's question. Making him raise his brows back at her, urging her to continue on and ask whatever it was she wanted to know to him.

"Did you tell Carly about me kissing you?"

"No," He shook his head, looking back at her with a blank expression, Ashley knew about them for sure now, he had silently commented it the other day, but she must have really took it as the truth, "she already has a lot to deal with."

"I see."

Ashley came back over to her things, slightly relieved she wasn't going to get a back lash from the person he was seeing for acting so irresponsible and also prevent the word about her slip up going around town.

"I don't have to hide anything from her," Jason continued on, watching Ashley pack away more of her things, wanting her to keep her mouth zipped too if he was also "but we have to keep ourselves hidden."

"What do you mean?" Ashley looked back at him, stopping what she was doing again.

"I mean no one know's we're together, so we'd like to keep it that way." He informed her, but also instructed her to do the same.

"Your secret is safe with me." She smiled over at him, before going back to her packing.

Sighing in relief, Jason tossed his keys into his pants pocket and wondered over to the filing cabinet, wanting to get the stuff he needed so that he could continue working away from the office and back in his safe zone.

But meanwhile, Carly was far from her comfort zone. She was way out of it. But it was doing her good and would be great for her working progress. After ten minutes, the manager of the storage unit finally appeared and granted them access to search the building for any signs that related to the anonymous tip they were sent.

They had ventured down a few corridors, their speed of walking slow and careful, all three of them searching for clues. Tanner had already got out some gloves for them to use once they were going to be searching around the place and she was beginning to hand the two other pairs to her partners when they came to a stop in front of one particular storage door.

The lock on the door was broken, Carly's eyes flickered between the broken lock and the gloves now in her hands. As she began to put them on, Tanner who was already gloved, stepped over to the door, Toby who had been carrying a set of plyers, laid them down on the ground outside and moved forward.

Feeling like she needed to do the same, Carly moved over to them and Tanner put her hand on the bolt on the door. Slowly she opened it up, pushing open the door and the storage unit in front of them appeared.

In the large open space of the unit, one single average sized barrell stood in the middle of the room. Toby and Carly both glanced over at Tanner, trying to work out what the Lieutenant was thinking, but Carly was already presuming the worse.

The body was in there. It had to be.

It made her feel physically sick and emotionally saddened that people would resort to such a horrific thing. Killing someone was bad enough, but leaving a body in the bottom of a barrell was just disturbing.

Looking back at her younger cops, Tanner nodded over to the pliers Toby had originally laid on the floor, "I think we're actually going to need those."

Responding to her instructions, Toby wandered back over to the object, whilst Carly followed Tanner into the storage unit. There was literally no other items or storage inside the room except this one barrel.

Once Toby had reappeared with the pliers, the three of them headed closer to the barrell. Toby was the first one to make a move on it, breaking the seal of it, granting access for Tanner to turn the components to open up the lid.

As soon as the lid was broken, an awful smell flooded the air and Carly had to stop herself from gagging at the smell. Backing away from it slightly, Toby also did the same and Tanner quickly closed the lid, the smell also too much for her to bare.

There had to be a body in there. The smell of it was just one big massive clue. Whatever was in there was dead. It was rotting and it was the most disgusting smell ever.

"What's that smell?" Toby questioned on behalf of them all.

"I'm not so sure," Tanner responded, turning round to face with and in particular Carly, "Miss Monroe, I need you to head back to the station for me. Make a phone call on your way out to the station and ask them for a HazMat team. I want you to write up a report of today and then you're free to clock off."

"A-a-are you sure?" She was shocked Tanner wanted her to go, despite the smell and the uneasiness, Carly was loving every minute of being involved, now she had to leave, "I can stay..."

"I need you to go alert the HazMat team as soon as possible and type up our findings from today. That will be all."

Staring back at Tanner, still confused and shock, Carly slowly managed to nod her head, before she backed out of there and headed back down the hall, heading outside her phone now in her hand and making the call to the station for the specialist team to come down to investigate, as well as to deal with what was in that barrel.

After she had made the call, Carly hitched a ride back to the station with one of the cops. The excitement and nerves were still bubbling in the pit of her stomach after what had happened today. All these theories were floating around in her head, some she knew she'd be typing up and others she'd be keeping to herself to protective those she cared about.

If Hanna and Caleb had been behind this today, she wasn't so sure they were capable of burying the body in there nor were they behind the killing. Carly could only guess someone had made them go there so they would be set up.

That someone had to be either Alison or Holbrook. The two who were so found on messing people's lives for their own enjoyment. Carly was actually hoping she'd run into Holbrook now so she could give him a piece of her mind and put him back in his place.

This couldn't go on. That man was a dick.

Once Carly had pulled up outside the station, she hopped out of the police car and made her way back into the station over to her office. Now that she was inside, Carly wanted to get the work Tanner had set her done as soon as possible, so she could get out of there and go home to relax after the dramatic turn of events.

Plus it meant she'd be back with Jason. Someone who she could just be at ease with and feel like she was safe.

Jason had decided to stay at the office for a couple of hours, helping Ashley pack away a few of her things and also she advised him on a few of the things around the office, that he would need to take care of or instruct someone else to do once she had left.

He hadn't worked in this side of the business for a long time. Jason always ventured out of town to carry out the real estate, so he didn't have to be in this messed up place that was a massive trigger for him, but also so he didn't have to work around his Dad.

Of course, when his mother passed away, Jason had returned to town and also had decided to take on more of the work from this side for his mothers sake. It had been a breeze so far, with Ashley around to help him as his mother had hired her, but also because his whole reasoning for staying in this town was for the girl he loved.

The one girl he couldn't wait to head home to and see. He wanted to make sure she had an ok day back and make her feel safe.

As he was helping Ashley load her boxes into the back of her car, that she had now moved up a few spaces after not being able to park anywhere near earlier. Jason lifted his head up to see a famaliar figure walking his way down the side walk.

A small smile crept up onto his feet when he saw her there, when their eyes met her own smile beamed on her face. Carly had to bite down her bottom lip, trying to fight off the bigger grin that was soon following, but also the butterflies that grew in her stomach to see him there and also encounter each other in public.

Neither of them knew how to act around each other out in the open. Small talk was probably fine. But anything from a full blown conversation to being lovey dovey was a no go.

Carly was planning on a small wave and a smile to Jason, before she walked past him and continued her journey back to her apartment, hoping he'd not be long before he would be following her back to her place for the rest of the night.

But she slowly found herself coming to a stop when she saw Ashley Marin, the woman Jason worked with and also Hanna's Mom, pull her head up to look over at her with an over eager smile, confusing her greatly and it wasn't until that moment she realised maybe Ashley knew more than Carly would have liked.

Had Jason told her about them?

Carly didn't know whether to be pissed about this or maybe a little proud that Jason was so willing to share his relationship status with his co-workers. In a normal situation, it would have been cute and made Carly happy that Jason was mentioning her. But this was far from normal.

There whole relationship was a big secret. No one knew. Apart from those who speculated about them. Yet to the outside world, no one even knew they knew each other and had so much history together, let alone a romantic relationship.

"Thanks for helping me with the boxes," Ashley told Jason, standing up from the trunk and closing it up, before her eyes rolled over to Carly once again who was slowly walking past them, "I should probably let you two talk.."

Before Ashley pulled out a piece of paper, handing it over to Jason who was confused as to what she was giving him, as Carly watched on from a far, "What's this?"

"A list of headhunters in the area," Ashley informed him, "it shouldn't be too hard to find someone to replace me."

"Thank you." Jason smiled at her lightly as he took it, looking over at Carly and then back at Ashley.

Ashley glanced over at the younger woman on the side of the street, then back at Jason like he had previously, "Your secrets safe with me."

"Thank you again," He repeated, thankful that she was going to keep the relationship to herself, "sorry if I crossed a line earlier with all the questions."

"You didn't," She assured him, Carly frowned on the other side of the street, wondering what they were talking about, "so do you think you'll stick with the business?"

"Well, it's not gonna be easy working with my father," Jason expressed his concerns, Carly hearing this and feeling guilty, Jason hadn't mentioned any of this to her and she somewhat felt jealous, "we're not talking much right now. And when we do, it's usually just consists of him reminding me of all the ways I've disappointed him."

"Maybe you shouldn't work with him," Ashley advised, "you can't move forward if you're stuck in the past."

Carly took her phone out from her pocket, standing against the brick wall, pretending to be busy on her phone rather than listening into their conversation, as well as wanting to appear to outsiders who were passing by that she was just stood there randomly, not for Jason.

"Good advice," Jason smiled back at her, looking over at Carly again and then on Ashley, "I hope it works out for you."

"You too," Ashley smiled, looking at Carly also, seeing how in love Jason was with the girl and how she acted towards him the other night, the older felt terrible about it, "I'm sorry again for the other night."

"Don't worry," He assured her, stepping away from her car and her, "just don't let it happen again."

Nodding slowly back at him, Ashley went over to the drivers side of the car and climbed in. Wanting to get out of there so she could forget about the stupid mistake she made the other night with kissing Jason and hurting the girl, as well as moving on with her life away from the DiLaurentis'.

Once Ashley was out of the area, Jason headed over to his office door, getting out his keys from his pocket and wiggling them in the air slightly, altering Carly's attention off her phone and onto him, signalling to her that he wanted her to come inside with him.

Smirking at his suggesting, Carly watched as Jason unlocked the door and headed back in, before she quickly looked around, checking the coast was clear, before she jogged over to the office and went inside with him.

Closing the door behind herself, Jason flicked on the lights and shut the blinds so they could have some privacy, just as it was getting dark outside and turned back round to face the girl he loved with a warm smile. Slowly wandering over to him, Carly wrapped her arms around his neck, nuzzling her head into him, breathing in his scent.

Embracing her back, Jason pecked the side of her forehead lightly, just below where one of her grazes was still healing from the crash, "Hey, you. What are you doing out of work early?"

"Tanner let me go," Carly informed him, slowly pulling away, but keeping contact and staring up at him, "something happened down at one of the storage units outside of town, I had to head back and do a report on it, then I was free to leave."

"Oh so you're free for the rest of the evening?" Jason asked her with hopeful eyes.

He had missed her so much today and needed to be with her.

"Yes," She rolled her tongue over her lips, unaware that she was actually teasing him, "I am."

"Good." He leant down and pecked her lips lightly.

Smiling up at him, she tightened her hold around his neck and brought his head closer, "Are you sure we won't get busted here?"

"No," He assured her, running his fingers through her hair, "My Dad's been flicking out of town to visit Ali and staying at home. He won't show up here and no one else works here."

"What about Ashley?" Carly questioned, wanting to find out what that was all about, "Did I see her filling her car with boxes?"

"Uh yeah," Jason cleared his throat, an awkwardness coming over him at the mentioning of her, the reminder of the kiss and Carly being unaware hitting him, he didn't know why he was acting this way when it hadn't been bothering him, but it all of a sudden was, "she quit."

"Why?" Carly was confused.

"I don't know," He shrugged, "out stayed her time I think. Needed to move forward and onto better things I suppose."

"Oh," She was surprised to hear this, "and how do you feel about that?"

"Fine," Jason was quick to answer, did she know about her kissing him, "why?"

"Oh it's just I heard you guys talking," Carly began to explain, wanting to find out why Jason failed to express his worries to her and told Ashley instead, "you said about your Dad. Why didn't you tell me you were feeling down about that?"

"I'm not down, Carl's," Jason assured her, letting go of her and she did the same, crossing her arms, "don't worry about me. Just focus on you."

"But I do, Jason," Carly expressed her own concerns for him now, "you know you can talk to me about anything."

"I know," He took a step back and leant his bum against the edge of one of the desks, "you don't need to worry about me though seriously."

"Ok," She slowly nodded, understanding not to press, he would come to her when he was ready to, but it didn't stop her from questioning him more, "does Ashley know about us?"

"She does," He admitted, somewhat nervously, fearful of her reaction, "but she's not going to tell anyone don't worry."

"Why would you tell her?" Carly was trying not to appear mad, but she was annoyed by this.

Jason couldn't go around telling everyone about them. Spencer already knew, Aria too by the sounds of it and god know's who else did. The town was only small. Everyone would soon find out and there fun would be over.

"She asked me, Carl's," Jason told her, hoping she'd lighten up to the idea and try move on, "I didn't exactly confirm it, but she put two and two together."

"How?"

"I don't know," he shrugged, sighing a little, "I guess she could sense how shaken I was when we spoke about the crash. Then I told her I'm seeing someone."

"Why would you tell her that?" Carly asked more puzzled now than angry.

"Because we were just talking," He decided against telling her it was because Ashley had made a move on him, "then that's where she got the idea from. Then you showed up here earlier."

"Right."

"C'mon, Carl's," Jason didn't want her to be like this, they were suppose to be positive together, not getting angry at each other, "she won't tell anyone. Please don't worry. Tell me about your day. Did Holbrook show?"

"No thankfully," Carly sighed, she was relieved about that, but more determined than ever to face him, "it was stressful, but I'm glad I'm back and on track."

"Good." He smiled at her lightly, as she wandered over to him and stood in between his legs, putting her hands on his chest.

"Are you finished here for the day?" She asked him, looking around the office, never having been in here before.

"I can be," Jason told her, laying his hands on her waist and pulling her closer, "what did you have in mind?"

"Oh nothing," Carly smiled back at him, knowing he was already thinking she was being suggestive, "I was just wondering when we could head back to my place."

"What's wrong with being here?" He asked, a small smirk growing on his face, "don't you like the risk?"

"Aren't we already taking a massive risk by being together?" She pointed out.

"Uh-huh," Jason nodded, running his hands up her shirt clothed back under her jacket, "but I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else."

Beaming back at his words, Carly leant in closer and smashed her lips onto his. It wasn't long before Jason responded, kissing her back passionately and moving his hands further up her back, pulling her jacket off her body and wanting to touch more of her.

Moaning at his touch on her body, Carly shrugged the jacket off more and tossed it to the ground, running her fingers up his chest and toying with the collar on his polo. Jason moved his hands down to her bum, giving it a light squeeze before he brought her closer to him once more.

The tension in the room was becoming more and more unbearable for the both of them.

This always happened these days, particularly since Carly had been in the hospital and had gotten out. They couldn't bear to be apart from each other, they were all over one another and couldn't keep their urges under control.

Jason detached his lips from her mouth, before he moved them down to her neck, kissing her skin lightly and slowly undoing the buttons on her shirt. Carly's hand's clamped around his own, stopping him from moving any further.

He pulled his head away from her neck and looked back up at her with confusion, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine," Carly laughed nervously, she wasn't embarrassed to be intimate with him, it was more so the place and the risk they were putting on themselves, she couldn't stand the unknown feeling, "it's just...are we really going to do this here?"

"Not if you don't want to," Jason assured her, grabbing hold of her hands and entwining their fingers, "we can head home if you like and have some dinner. What do you fancy?"

"I don't want to eat anything, Jason," She told him, causing him to frown back at her, worried she wasn't hungry because of her anxiety, "I want you."

Smirking at her remark, Jason slowly stood up from the desk and kissed her hard, before he ushered her towards the back door of the office, where his car was parked around the back and he could easily slip them out without anyone seeing them.

Following his orders, Carly picked her jacket back up and headed over to the back door, whilst Jason turned off the lights and shut up the place for the rest of the day. Both of them eager to get back home and have a night of passion once again.

Forgetting again about their troubles, Jason finding a new employee, dealing with his own addictions and relapses, his family's issues, looking out for Carly and her rollercoaster of a job, protecting herself and the girls from whoever was targeting them, as well as making sure Jason was coping throughout all this.

Carly couldn't wipe the smile off her face the next day, when she was sat at work and for the first time in a long time she felt content. After last night with Jason, she was finally back to feeling more in control of herself and how her life was going. She was so excited for tonight. Jason and her were heading out on a date, to a cute restaurant outside of town and Carly honestly couldn't wait.

The crash could have knocked her down hard, but she was not letting it.

Nor was she letting any more threats, which were lacking right now or Alison and Holbrook ruining the courage she had been building up the past week or so. Carly deserved to be happy for once and not let the anxiety she had win this time round.

In regards to work, things were pretty crazy and Carly still was unaware of what they had found in the storage. Her updates were minimal, she didn't know whether it was because Tanner didn't want to share too much or that they didn't even really have any confirmation yet of what had gone on yet.

Most of her work for the first couple of hours had been responding to emails and typing up reports, she hadn't even seen any of the usual people like Tanner or Toby who had been working with her on the case, Holbrook hadn't even shown up to work again today.

She still wanted to hash out things with him and get to the root of his issues with her, as well as the game he was playing by messing with not only her, but also the other teenagers.

But her happiness was going to be short lived when she heard footsteps approaching, before a loud knock at her open door broke her attention off her laptop screen and over to the Lieutenant now stood at the door.

"Lieutenant Tanner." Carly greeted, slowly getting up from her spot and meeting with her in the middle of the room.

"Miss Monroe," Tanner greeted back, stepping into the room and grabbing hold of the door handle, "May I speak to you in private one moment?"

"Of course." She answered, suddenly feeling nervous with regards to what this was about.

Had she done something wrong? Had Tanner found out about Jason and her relationship? Had Ashley Marin told people about their relationship? Was Tanner now going to bust her?

Carly didn't want her anxious mind to run wild, but it already was and the serious look on Tanner's face was making things so much worse.

Closing up the door, Tanner turned back round to face the trainee, "We need to talk about what happened yesterday."

"Ok." Carly nodded, wondering whether she had been too quick to presume the worst.

All Tanner had come here for by the sounds of it was to discuss the barrel or maybe it was to talk about the whole Holbrook situation with Toby that had occurred. Maybe that was the reason Toby wasn't in the station today. Tanner had already got rid of him.

Here she goes, her anxious mind running away with her and dreading the worst already.

"We know one or more people helped Alison kill Mona and move her body," Tanner explained, which Carly had read in the notes regarding the investigation, they believed there was more people helping Alison, Carly and the girl's thought Holbrook, while Tanner believed it was one of the other girls,

"I don't know if what we found are Mona's remains," Tanner continued on, "But I do know that if those drops of blood match her DNA, Alison's friends will be the first people I bring in for questioning."

"Right." Carly nodded once again.

She was right. Tanner was still on time them. Carly highly disagreed with this.

"Let me remind you, when I interviewed you back in New York," Carly knew what was coming next, she was going to get a backlash, she could feel it, "you took an oath when you become a trainee. Withholding information is not an option. So if there is anything that I should know, now is the time to tell me."

"What are you implying?" Carly asked, worried and confused.

She found herself crossing her arms in protectiveness, Carly felt unsure and a little overwhelmed with pressure with regards to what Tanner was asking from her. Carly didn't know what Tanner knew or suspected of her, so she knew she had to tread carefully with what she told her or restricted from telling her.

"Nothing, Miss Monroe," Tanner assured her, but continued to press for more, "I just need to know if you know anything, anything at all, that will help us with the case, then you must tell me right now."

Carly couldn't help but shake her head, feeling like she was being attacked and had to be defensive, "I don't know what you expect me to say, Lieutenant Tanner."

"Well let's start with what happened yesterday," The Lieutenant suggested, raising her eyebrows up at her trainee, "you and officer Cavanaugh were accusing your superior, Detective Holbrook, of having something to do with Alison DiLaurentis. Do you still believe that to be true?"

"Uh yes," Carly found herself saying, if Tanner wanted her to be truthful then she would be, but she didn't know how far she would go, it meant exposing her secrets, "I do."

"And does this have anything to do with your relations to people in this town?"

"No, of course not," She denied the accusation behind her reasons, "it has nothing to do with them. Of course, their own knowledge and theories adds to it. But I know other things, Lieutenant Tanner."

"And what may those be?"

Carly felt her mouth go dry after her bosses question, knowing she had dropped her foot in it right now. She was toying in her mind whether or not to be honest about what Holbrook had done, when he had threatened her with sharing her sex tape with the whole world to see, in particular Tanner. But it also meant exposing that side of her life that she had wanted to stay hidden for so long.

Yet Tanner looked pretty serious and Carly knew how much of a help it would be if she was just honest about it. It wouldn't just help her case, but also it would help the girls and get them out of the frame.

If Tanner wanted real evidence about the tape, then Carly still had it, locked away safe at him, she checked on it every single day to make sure it was there, she could easily go get it for Tanner.

"I-I-I..."

Before Carly could have a chance of admitting the truth behind her reasonings for accusing her superior of being involved with Alison, the door to the office opened up and the two women's eyes rolled over to the figure now stood in the middle of it.

Carly felt her chest tighten when her eyes met with the one person she had been afraid to see, yet needed to so she could face them and find out what they had been up to all this time.

Their usual arrogant and mischievous smile was present on their face, the smirk that use to make Carly smile back at helplessly. But now it made her squirm and angry. It made her want to go over there and punch him. She had never been a violent person.

But he made her feel that way.

"Good afternoon, Miss Monroe."

* * *

 **Author note: I am soooo soooo soooo sorry for not updating again in the longest time! Life got pretty hectic and other stories were my main focus, but I really wanted to upload you guys a new part to mark the end of the year. I feel terrible I kind of ditched this story so much this year, but hopefully in 2017 and when PLL starts up again, I will get back into it and be able to share more with you. I hope you guys understand my reasons.**

 **Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed or took an interest in this story this year. I really do appreciate it, even if it may not seem like it. I really hope you guys enjoyed this part and you look forward to potential updates whenever they may be.**

 **Big love to you all and best wishes for 2017.**

 **All my best,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	41. Goodbye Gabe

"Lieutenant Tanner," Holbrook looked over at their boss, giving her a small smile, but the smirk soon came back when he glanced at Carly once more, "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

"You were actually," Tanner responded harshly, but didn't want to make Holbrook aware they were on to him, "but this can continue another time, if that's ok, Miss Monroe?"

"Uh..." Carly looked between her two bosses, feeling anxious and on edge to be left alone with Holbrook.

She had to be stronger though. Carly was letting her anxious mind win again. She had told herself that she was going to face him and now she had the chance too. Carly couldn't let Tanner stay around and protect her just for her anxious minds sake.

Holbrook came over to his side of the desk, laying his laptop case down onto the table and pulling it out, "I'm sure it's fine with Miss Monroe. We have a lot of catching up to do since I've been out of office."

"Is that so?" Tanner looked over at Carly once again.

"Uh," Carly felt lost for words, but clearing her throat and taking a deep breathe in, she was just about able to form a sentence, "that's fine, Lieutenant Tanner. We can continue this another time."

"Great," Tanner offered her a small smile, sensing her uneasiness and her suspicions towards the trainee and the detective grew more, "I'll leave you two it."

"Thank you." Holbrook told the Lieutenant, turning on his laptop and looking over at the two woman.

"Welcome back, Detective Holbrook." Tanner nodded at him, before she walked out of the office, leaving the two detectives alone to talk.

Holbrook's smirk grew more and more, the chance of being alone with Carly for the first time in weeks was something for him to be pretty thrilled about. He wanted to get back into the swing of things once again, letting her know that he was still in control and that they were a team.

Walking over to the door, Holbrook closed it up and turned the blinds down, giving him the privacy he wanted between the two detectives. Once he had done that, he went back over to his desk and took a seat, loading up his laptop and getting back up to date with the parts of the case he had missed.

Carly found herself frozen in her spot in the middle of the office. Her arms were folded across her chest. A unimpressed expression firmly on her face. Her eyes staring intensely at Holbrook. The anger and resentment she felt towards the man now overpowering the fear and panic she felt deep down inside.

All she had to do was keep focusing on the stronger, determined and independent woman that had been so courageous the past couple of years. The woman that had took a lot of time for her to built up to become after her setbacks the last time she was in Rosewood.

Since coming back here, she had lost part of that woman and since the crash, Carly had been more motivated than ever to get her back. Holbrook and Alison think they might have been able to knock her down, threaten her and even try to kill her, but Carly wasn't going to let them win this time round.

After a few moments, Holbrook rolled his eyes back over to his partner with an amused look, "What are you doing over there? Aren't you going to join me at this lovely long desk?"

"What are you doing here, Gabe?" Carly questioned him, keeping her tone blunt and serious.

"What do you mean, Miss Monroe?" He scoffed with confusion at her questioning, had she gotten stupid since he had been gone, "I work here. Have I been gone that long that you've forgotten that?"

"Of course not," She responded sharply, "but you haven't exactly been working out of town either, have you?"

"What? What has Tanner told you I've been doing?"

"It's not Tanner who's been notifying me of what you've been up to," Carly explained, "because if she really knew what you've been doing, then you wouldn't have been able to walk through those doors so easily just now."

"I honestly have no idea what you're on about." Holbrook tried to defend himself.

But he stood no chance against the mood Carly was in.

She wasn't going to back down.

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure you've been having the time of your life, whilst everyone has been suffering due to your wicked games."

"What?" Holbrook chuckled in amusement, he couldn't believe this girl right now, she was actually hilarious, "What are you on about?"

"Cut the crap, Gabe," Carly warned him, not finding this funny at all, "I've already told you to stop doing that once. Why can't you just be honest for the first time in your life? Surely that should come easy to you, you know, being a cop and swearing under oath."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Monroe," He couldn't let her keep going at him like this, she had to be put in her place, "I forgot you've been in law enforcement for all of two minutes and now think you're some superior. Tanner informed me you and Toby are on to me."

"Oh yeah," She raised her brows up with a nod, "well we have every right to be."

"You think she's going to let you accusing me of crap slide?" Holbrook began to taunt her, slowly standing up from his chair, "let me be the one to remind you this time, that I can ruin you with what I know about you. I know more now than just some alcohol addiction and a sex tape."

"And what are you going to do with it?" Carly questioned him, feeling her anger and also fear bubble up inside of her, "Drive straight towards me with it, plunge me into a tree and put me in the hospital like you did last time."

"What?" He shook his head, a deep frown furrowing in between his brows.

"Oh c'mon," She laughed angrily, throwing her hands in the air, "surely you haven't been that wrapped up in everything, that you've forgotten what you did to me."

"I..."

"No, you see these?" Carly had really had enough now, as she throw her hands up towards her face, the grazes from the crash still prominent on the right side of her lower forehead, as well as one across the top of her right cheek bone, "you did this to me."

"Miss Monroe..."

"And this." She slowly pulled her shirt out of her faux leather skirt, lifting up the material to show her still severely bruised ribs to the man that had caused her this damage.

"I don't mind you flashing me at all," Holbrook rolled his eyes away from her body where the injuries lay and up towards her face, "but I have no idea what you're on about."

"Oh really? Because you weren't driving the car that night?"

Carly couldn't believe he was denying the whole thing. He disgusted her more and more.

"What car?"

"The car that tried to hit me! The night Alison got arrested! You drove a car straight towards me and tried to kill me," Carly began to explain, though she didn't know why she was bothering when he surely knew all this, but it didn't stop the tears from pricking her eyes remembering the awful moments of the crash, "but when you failed, that still didn't stop you from haunting me, did it?"

"What are you on about?" Holbrook continued to behave confused, "what else did I supposedly do?"

"You sent me another message. Just like those texts you and Alison have been sending me since I got back to town, all because I rejected you and Alison wants revenge on me getting with her brother years back" She continued on her rant, as well as her own demands to back down, "but do you know what, Gabe? It ends right now."

Holbrook burst into laughter, more so that this girl was so adamant he had done all of this to her and that she really think he would stoop so low. This girl, she wasn't even a woman in his eyes, she was amusing and blinded by the real truth in front of her eyes.

Slowly went over to her, Holbrook muffled his laughter and Carly glared at him, the closer her go to her the more she felt her heart rate pick up, worried what he was going to do or say next to harm her.

"I really appreciate the speech and effort you've made to threaten me," Holbrook stopped in front of her, Carly went to back away, but he snatched hold of her wrist, squeezing it tightly, "but you're so very wrong."

"Far from it," Carly snapped back at him, before she winced at his grip on her skin, she wasn't strong enough to get him off, "I'm not the only one who believes you're guilty."

"You and the bunch of teenagers running around this town," Holbrook mocked her involvement, "it's real cute. I bet it reminds you of when you were younger. You never did get a chance to be like those girls. You were always hanging around with the drunks and stoners, getting with people's boyfriends and breaking Daddy's rules."

"You don't know a thing about me." She tried to defend herself, but sadly everything he was saying was so true to her past.

Just a little less harsh. She was career minded. Not socially driven. She hadn't gone after people's boyfriends. Carly had fallen in love with a guy that was unavailable.

"But I do know all about your past and that you're back with Jason," He said to her, slowly moving his other hand up to her face, running his fingers over the grazes, in which she squirmed away from him, "and I'm sure you're still terrified of Tanner finding out all about that."

"Go to hell."

Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door, causing Holbrook to let go of Carly and Carly to head back over to her desk, adjusting her shirt back into her skirt and also taking a moment to actually breath after Holbrook had been the way he had towards her.

The guy was a messed up creep.

Going over to the door, Holbrook slowly opened it to see Tanner back outside of it again, with the same blank expression on her face, "Detective Holbrook, may I speak with you in my office for a moment?"

"Sure." He responded, before Tanner looked over at Carly and then turned around, heading towards her office.

Holbrook looked back at Carly also, the girl keeping her head focused on her desk below, not wanting to look at him, worried that she might lash out completely or crumble instead.

There was too many emotions she was feeling right now and she didn't know which one would win out of all this. Somehow she hoped she could be strong enough to ignore them all and calm herself down to avoid anyone noticing how fired up she was.

Once Holbrook was gone, Carly slowly pulled out her desk chair and took a seat down, taking deep breathes in and out, trying to calm herself down and rethink how she was going to handle this situation.

She was still adamant that she wasn't going to back down or let him win. He couldn't win and gain back control like he had been. It did have to stop today or she didn't know how she was going to continue working here having to face him all day every day.

It wasn't until Carly had managed to gain back control and was out of the anger/fear bubble, that she heard a couple of familiar voices talking out in the foyer of the station, where her office door was still open projecting the sound from the busy foyer through.

Slowly turning her head round, Carly could just about see the tops of two heads sitting in the waiting area of the station. Out of curiosity and also concern, Carly climbed up from her seat and headed out through into the foyer.

Over in the corner of the waiting space sat Hanna and Caleb, the two who had been at the storage unit yesterday looking highly guilty and the guy who Tanner wanted to bring in for questioning. Now Hanna was there too and no doubt also going to be questioned.

"Hanna," Carly said, coming over to the two of them, grabbing their attention instantly "Caleb."

"Hey, Carly." Hanna greeted, trying to be cheery but she was feeling far from it, whilst Caleb offered her a slight smile.

"Are you two here for questioning?" She asked them both, though she clearly knew the answer.

Part of her just wanted them to know she was there for them and on their side. She didn't believe they were guilty. They could rely on her for support and assurance.

"Yep." Hanna mumbled, before a sigh followed shortly after.

"You guys will be fine. Just be honest." Carly tried to assure them, though she knew that she couldn't be 100% certain they'd make it through if they were.

But at least if she shew encouragement towards them, then maybe it would prove to them, that this time she was on their side.

Toby looked over at Hanna, then back at Carly, before he asked, "Do you know if anyone has gotten ahold of any tapes recently?"

"Uh no," Carly shook her head, frowning slightly, the reminder of her tape popping into her mind, "the last ones were taken from Mona's house."

"Nothing regarding security footage or anything?" He pressed more.

"No," Carly answered him, before she moved closer to them, "Was that you two who tampered with the footage from the unit?"

"Sort of." Caleb kept his answer minimal.

"Right," She rolled her tongue across her dry lip, wishing she hadn't of asked that and now knew that information, her career mind set was going out of the window again and her protectiveness getting the best of her, "I hope you have dealt with that."

"We have," He assured not only Carly, but also a worried Hanna beside him, "there's nothing connecting us to that storage unit beside's bad timing."

"True," Carly slowly nodded, looking around to make sure no one was watching them, thank god they weren't or she would be busted herself, "please don't tell me anymore. But I can assure you, you won't be getting arrested for bad timing."

"Not yet." Hanna huffed, already guessing the worst.

Carly was glad she wasn't the only one who dreaded everything bad coming out of most risky situations.

Before any of them had the opportunity to continue on their conversations, the sound of a loud and very familiar angry tone erupted throughout the station. The voice was coming from behind Hanna and Caleb, but right in front of Carly through the glass window where Tanner's office was located.

The voice belonged to Holbrook.

"This department has screwed up this investigation from the start and now you're trying to blame it on me?" Holbrook was ranting very loudly and clear for all to hear, the anger very present in his voice, "You have no idea what's really going on here, do you? Not a clue!"

Carly could already presume that Holbrook had been referring to her for at least one of the things Tanner and the team were aware of.

She was surprised he hadn't already discussed it with Tanner.

Within a flash, Tanner's office door was flung open and Holbrook stormed out of it, it wasn't long before he grabbed an empty box of one of the desks and headed towards the door way of the room to get out into the foyer.

Hanna and Caleb slowly stood up where they were seated when they saw him approaching, whilst Carly turned her body round to face him when he came through and saw the three of them all stood there watching on.

Seeing her with them, looking very at home and like it was the normal, aggravated Holbrook more to think that Carly was getting away with so much under Tanner's nose. His chances of putting the girl under the bus were now over, now he had lost his job and Tanner was throwing him off the investigation as well.

Whatever he said now would never be believed and he had no evidence either to back himself up.

"Perfect," Holbrook scoffed, looking between the three of them, his eyes falling onto Carly, "just perfect."

Brushing past her, he headed back into their office, gathering up his things and all Carly could do was watch on from across the foyer, shocked but also relieved he was going, making her working life ten times easier.

But part of her knew it wasn't going to be. Not outside of work that was for sure. No doubt he would seek revenge and try to hurt her again, like he had when he had tried to kill her in her own car the night Alison got arrested.

After Holbrook had left so abruptly earlier that day, Carly had gone back to her work whilst another police officer called Hanna and Caleb through into questioning. A little while after, Tanner also entered the room and joined them. Once they had finished up, the two teenagers left and Tanner headed back into her office.

Since then she hadn't emerged and it was nearing seven o'clock the end of Carly's shift and time for her to head to the restaurant out of town for her dinner with Jason. Her Dad had thankfully managed to get her a rental car until her car was fixed next week, so Carly had picked that up over her lunch and was now heading out front to leave work.

Climbing into the rent car, Carly tossed her bag into the passenger side beside her and closed the door. Looking into the rearview mirror, she adjusted her hair and then grabbed a lipstick out from the glove compartment beside her.

Running the product over her lips, she rubbed them together and pouted, before she tossed it back away and put on her seatbelt. Starting up the engine, Carly pulled away from the road side and began her journey to the restaurant.

She was feeling slightly nervous being behind the wheel again after last time. Carly felt more paranoid now Holbrook was full of more rage than usual and was probably out to get her again after losing his job today.

Carly was making sure she was keeping fidju lent throughout her journey through town, keeping her eyes focused on the road, as well as any passersby in their cars. Part of her was pleased though for getting back in a vehicle and not letting her fears of the accident happening again knock her.

But it wasn't until she turned down one block, that she found her eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. There were two cars parked up ahead, one of them had flashing blue lights on the top and the other was a normal car.

It wasn't until she got closer, Carly could see two people stood talking on the road side, like they were in a heated discussion and as the car accelerated down the road, Carly could tell just whom the cars belonged to and who was undergoing this encounter.

The same rage she felt earlier hit her like a train.

She had to act fast and with not only her own interests at heart, but also the other girl now mixed into the equation and the one now receiving the backlash of Holbrook's actions.

Coming to an emergency stop behind the cars, Carly switched off the lights and quickly got out of the car. Her heels clicked along the road side, but her turning up wasn't enough to make the person turn around and face her.

"Hey! What the hell is going on here?"

Slowly Holbrook turned around to face the voice of the one person he really didn't want to have to see again, everytime he looked at her, he felt his anger grow and the frustration he felt for what she had done to him was ruining him.

"Well if it isn't, Miss Monroe," Holbrook was already beginning to taunt her for showing up here, "what a pleasure to see you again."

"I could never say the same for you," Carly faked a smile back at him, before going to stand beside Hanna, looking at her concerned, "are you ok?"

Hanna slowly nodded back at her, relieved to have someone come to the rescue, but Holbrook was still here and surely wouldn't back down just because she was here. Hanna could tell he didn't like Carly and was messing her about too.

"Well, would you look at that?" He smirked, watching the two girls interact, finding it so amusing how involved Carly was when she was suppose to be on the force, "I had every right to be suspicious of you."

Carly shook her head unamused, not even bothering to look at him and keeping her eyes focused on Hanna, "Get out of here."

"What?" Hanna shook her head this time, "I'm not leaving you alone with him."

"I'll be fine," Carly assured her, but also herself, "please go."

Hanna glanced over at Holbrook one last time, before giving Carly a s low nod and heading back over to her car. Carly lowered her head slightly, waiting for Hanna to drive off out of there, before she really let loose at Holbrook. She was done with playing nice girl. It was time she really stood her ground and pushed through her fears.

He wasn't getting away with this one.

As she turned back round after seeing Hanna's car disappear in the distance, Carly turned back to look over at a mischevious Holbrook. She shook her head in disgust at the man, clearly seeing that he enjoyed messing with teenagers, girl's in particular, and also upsetting her more than anything.

"Why do you still have the cop car?" Carly asked him, nodding over to the car and folding her arms, "Tanner suspended you."

"I haven't gotten around to turning it in yet," He explained to her, before his smirk grew once more, "Why? You're gonna report me. I met get in trouble for that..."

Holbrook quickly leapt forward, grabbing hold of her wrist like he had earlier on in the day, causing Carly to forcefully remove his grip off her, "Get the hell off of me!"

"I just want to ask you a question first," Holbrook stepped a little closer to her, looking deep into her eyes, as Carly kept her hands to herself, "how does a girl so sweet and innocent, get involved with so many messed up people?"

"Because she never really was the innocent one." Carly remarked, shoving him away from her and adjusting her jacket.

"I bet Jason loved that about you." He teased.

She scoffed shaking her head in disgust, "You don't know a thing about him or me."

"I know enough to know what makes you squirm."

"You're disgusting." Carly told him.

"You weren't saying that when I was laying on top of you on your couch and you were moaning." Holbrook told her wickedly.

"That was before I realised you were an arrogant creep."

"Ouch!" Holbrook pretended to be hurt by her words.

"How did you even become a cop anyway? Surely they could have seen your arrogance, perverted head and wicked ways from a mile away." She said.

"How did you even pass Tanner's interviews? How did you even get on the team with no little experience in law enforcement, but so much information with regards to the people and events within the case?" He fired back.

"Easy," Carly smirked at him, "I was just myself. Something you could never do and now look at you."

"I had a career, I know," Holbrook responded, not liking how she was reminding him of what he had lost, his smirk fell "The start of one. I don't have that anymore. But you do. I'm finished because of Alison and you."

"You could have said no!" She pointed out, "you didn't have to go against me, then go to her for dirt on me and threaten me with that tape, as well as do all her dirty work and try to kill me. You did it all whilst you were supposed to be out of town."

"No," He shook his head, still surprised she was adamant that was him, "you're getting me mixed up with the wrong fall guy. I spent the last few weeks locked up in a hotel with a couple of old-timers from internal affairs,"

Carly raised her brows up at this, looking at him in disbelief he was still making excuses, "You don't believe me?" Holbrook continued, noticing her reaction, "Ask Tanner. Tanner knows everything."

"Wait..."

"She cut me off."

"Who?"

"Alison," He admitted, the smirk that had been lost for a few minutes suddenly started to appear again, "if her brother decides to do that to you or you realise what messed up people that family is, then you know I'm here."

"What?" Carly scoffed, she was the surprised one now, he could have not been serious, "you think I'd go back to you? We weren't even together, Gabe!"

"But we could have been," He reminded her, coming a little closer again, "if Jason hadn't of come back to town, we would have been together by now."

"No!" She shook her head, "that's not true."

"But it is," Holbrook assured her his idea was true, "we could have been together. That family, the DiLaurentis', ruined our chances of working out. Now I have no job and no career ahead of me. I have no chance of being with a girl I actually liked."

"Don't be so stupid!" Carly snapped at him, "you don't get to play the victim here. You were the grown-up police officer. She's just a girl. Like Hanna too. And me. I was that girl once. I got messed about by guys and people like you."

"Carly..."

"No! Don't!"

Quickly raising her hand up towards his face, she quickly with a force slapped him hard across the cheek, the sound of her hand coming into contact with his cheek echoing around their quiet surroundings.

Holbrook's jaw flung open slightly, he slowly brought his hand up to where she had hit him, the stinging causing him to wince slightly, staring back at her shocked that she had just done that, whilst she panted in front of him the anger and adrenaline flooding through her body.

She didn't know what came over her, but Carly had to do that and it felt good to finally put him back in his place. It had been way overdue.

"Don't you dare come near me or any of the teenage girls in this town ever again."

After warning him, Carly brushed past him and went to head back to her car, wanting to drive off out of there and leave Holbrook to deal with the consequences of his actions. But he quickly turned after her, grabbing her wrist and pulling her back to face him.

"I can get you kicked off the case. I can tell Tanner everything about your past and what you've been up to since being back in town, you know, how messed up you were and out of control. I know about it all. Alison told me everything. Even about the last night you were in town. I'll tell Tanner all of it. " Holbrook threatened her, one last push to get her to warm up to him.

Shaking her head, she snatched her hand back and looked at him harshly, the tears pricking her eyes, feeling so overwhelmed by all of this, that someone could be so horrible and nasty to bring up her past to put it against her future as a detective.

"I'd rather be messed up and uncontrollable than a creep."

Spinning back round, Carly took a deep breath and stormed back over to her car. Quickly she hopped inside, avoiding Holbrook looking at her from beside his own car. Carly quickly started up her car and made a fast escape out of there.

It wasn't until she was far away out there, that she had realised the tears had fallen down her cheeks and she was now in fact crying. The adrenaline rush subsiding from the anger she felt. Her hands were shaking slightly from hitting Holbrook, as well as the intense rage and fear she felt to see him again.

The shock was still very much there at what he had threatened her with, as well as what he knew about her.

It was more than just 'supposedly' splitting up Jason and Cece, getting drunk and not being able to drink alcohol anymore because of the addiction, it was also what happened the last night she was in town. Holbrook knew all of it.

She prayed so very hard that he would get the message and run from town.

Or maybe she would be the one doing the running tonight.

* * *

 **Author note: Hello everyone! I thought I'd upload another part whilst I had it already prewritten. I hope you all had a lovely new years day and have a great 2017. Who knows maybe they'll be plenty more updates in 2017 on this story? But for now, here's the next installment. I really hope you liked it. I think for Carly this part was very much needed. It was about time she stood up for herself when it came to Holbrook. No more miss nice girl!**

 **Special thanks to RHatch89, LiLuLo12 and guest for reviewing the last part. You guys are the best!**

 **I'd love to know what you all thought about this one :)**

 **I hope you all have a great week,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	42. Attempted Rattle

Jason kept his eyes on the girl sat in front of him, his expression full of confusion and worry for the sight he was seeing. From the moment she had walked into the restaurant that night, he could see that something was bothering her and it was readable throughout her entire body.

When she took a seat down at the table and looked over at him, she had forced a smile on her lips, but it didn't meet her eyes. Not like it usually did when she grinned at him. It wasn't the same smile nor look he was so use to receiving from her.

Once her eyes had left his, Jason could see her eyes kept rolling over to another part of the room in the very much busy and open restaurant. Every so often, she would look back at the table, but her attention was mainly focused elsewhere, just like her mind probably was.

Since sitting down at the table, she had hardly uttered a word to him. But the language that was echoing throughout her body, could already tell him enough about her. Her body was shaking. Her eyebrows were furrowed together slightly like she was deep in thought. Her eyes looked frightened. Her face looked flushed with anger.

Jason knew something was up with her and he had to find out. It was killing him seeing her this way and not knowing what was choking her up so much inside. It was so painful to see her act this way.

"Carly," Jason broke the silence between the two, leaning forward slightly in his seat, hoping he'd grab her attention, but her gaze was still focused elsewhere, "what's going on? You've hardly said anything since you've got here."

"I'm fine, Jason." Carly responded in a cold tone.

She hated how she was acting around and towards him, but after everything today, Carly was shook up and couldn't stop thinking about how annoyed, hurt and scared she was.

But she didn't want Jason to worry about her anymore. He already had his own stuff to deal with. He didn't need to be worrying about her too. Carly would get over it and be fine in a matter of hours.

"Really?" Jason wasn't buying it, he didn't care how many times she'd try cover up and put up her guard, he wasn't leaving this restaurant until he got an answer out of her, "because your face and body prove otherwise."

"It's called anxiety, Jason." She corrected him, looking over at him briefly then back over to another table in the far side of the room.

He shook his head, not liking how she was acting with him, it was so unlike her and not what he was use to coming from her. The monster inside of her was clearly taking control over whatever the hell had happened to her today.

"I know what it is, Carly." He was the one snapping back now, before he sighed frustrated and helplessly.

Jason knew how to deal with anxiety, he had a cases of it his whole life throughout certain trigger related situations and in particular his recovery from his own drug abuse he went through it. He was familiar with the feelings. So he knew how she must have been feeling.

And over the course of them being together, he had grown to learn and understand how Carly acted when she was having a bad day. But this was so out of the ordinary for her. He had no idea what was causing it.

Turning his head around, Jason trailed his eyes over to where Carly was staring intently at and felt his stomach drop when he figured out what the girl was so focused on.

One of the tables had a bottle of wine sat in the middle of it, where two woman and two men were sat at the table. The woman drinking the red liquid out of their wine glasses, whilst the two other men had a whiskey and beer in front of them.

Whatever was beating her up inside was edging her towards the drink.

Jason wouldn't let that happen. He had to know what was going on with her.

Spinning himself back round, Jason looked over at her with a more concerned than ever expression, "Carly, you're going to have to tell me right now what's going on with you right now."

"Why do you think something is going on?" Carly tried to act innocent.

She didn't want to have to explain to Jason about what happened with Holbrook because she knew what his reaction would be. He'd storm right out of the restaurant and go after him. Everything she didn't want him to do because it would make her repercussions worse.

Carly was already struggling with what she had done to Holbrook today. She had really pushed him. She had been hoping it would get him out of town, but ever since the drive over and when she got to the restaurant, she was panicking about him retaliating just as hard back.

What if he did go to Tanner? What if he told everyone all her secrets? What if he told her Dad about her and Jason? What if the tape got stolen and he shared it? What if she lost Jason because of this? What if her Dad sent her back to New York? What if she lost her job? What if -A tried to send her down for crimes she didn't commit?

Maybe it was a mistake shaking him up and lashing out at him.

Surely it was going to make things worse.

It already was.

"I don't know, Carly," Jason faked his uncertainty to her, though they both knew he could see how she was acting, "maybe because you're eyeing up alcohol from across the restaurant and you're shaking like a leaf,"

Carly lowered her head slightly for the first time, her eyes suddenly snapping off the alcohol filled table, disgusted and afraid of her actions or what she would do tonight if she didn't get herself back in control,

"Now you're going to tell me what's going on." Jason urged her.

"I-i-i, i-i don't know how things got so out of hand today," She began, shakily and her breathing heavy, as her eyes rolled up to meet with Jason's nervously, "but I had a couple of let's say conflicts with Holbrook today."

Jason should have known that Holbrook would be the cause of her state.

He could already feel his own anger beginning to heat up under the collar of his dress shirt he was wearing. His firsts began to clench under the table.

"I ended up assaulting him Jason."

"Carly," Jason breathed, surprised and shocked to hear this, "what happened?"

"He wouldn't stop taunting me or threatening me, Jason," Carly began to explain, feelings the fears bubble up in her eyes, "I was getting desperate. I panicked and lashed out at him. I slapped him,"

She suddenly burst into tears, trying to keep her sobs down as she cried, not wanting to alert anyone around her, but she could already presume people were watching them judging when they even began to start talking that evening,

But Carly couldn't hold back anymore, she was so shaken up by this and hated how weak she was appearing,

"I shouldn't have done it. I've probably made it all worse. He's not going to stop. This is just going to give him more motivation to come at me again."

Jason couldn't stand to see her this way. He could see how broken and fragile she was. Jason couldn't let this continue on without him doing anything about it. That man deserved to be punished for his actions, not only towards Carly, but his little sister as well, who was stuck in prison not being able to speak out about her involvement with this man.

Quickly climbing up from the table, Jason chucked the napkin off his lap and onto the table in front of them, "I can't sit here anymore, Carly. I have to go give him a piece of my mind down at the station."

Carly felt the panic grow in her seeing how angry Jason had gotten in such a short amount of time. This was the exact reason why she didn't want to have to tell him. He couldn't go find Holbrook and make matters worse.

She had to put a stop to it.

"No, no, no," Carly quickly scrambled up as well, looking over at him in sheer panic, a few people in the restaurant now looking over at them, "don't. You won't be able to find him anyway."

"Why not?" He asked, confused and angry she wasn't letting him go again.

"Because Tanner suspended him earlier today," She informed him, Jason groaned in annoyance and slowly sat back down, before she did the same and continued on, "I think she finally listened to our accusations towards him and got rid."

"Isn't this a good thing then?" Jason raised his brows up in confusion.

"No," Carly shook her head, holding her tears in, "because the incident happened after work, long after he had gone. I found him on the road side integrating Hanna Marin."

"What?" He shook his head, disgusted by this man, "why?"

"I don't know," Carly shrugged, "I put a stop to it. I couldn't let him harm another girl. Maybe it was stupid of me. I should have gone when Hanna did. But I couldn't let him win again."

"Carly," Jason leaned over the table, taking his hand in her own for the first time since arriving here, "I think you're really brave and I couldn't be prouder of you for stepping up to him."

"You think so?" She asked, as he nodded his head in response, "Surely I've just made things worse."

"Why'd you think that?" Jason questioned her.

"He know's a lot about me," Carly explained to him, feeling choked up again at the realisation of what he knew about her, "a lot more than we originally thought. Alison told him everything, Jason."

"Everything?"

"Yes." She hissed.

"How much is everything though?"

Carly felt the tears roll down her cheek for the second time within five minutes, "He knows about the last night I was in town. He know's what happened the night Alison went missing,"

Jason stared back at her across the table, the frustration still flooding through his body, but less directed towards Holbrook now. It was more towards his sister and how wicked she was to tell some random cop everything about Carly.

He was glad she was in prison now. That girl was no family of his. She never was anything like he was. Jason would never dream of doing anything like that. It hurt him and angered him that the pain coming from the girl he loved was caused by the actions of his own family.

"You see now why we can't do anything else to provoke him, Jason," Carly broke the tense silence that had come over them, as she had witnessed Jason staring down at the glass of water in front of him, not saying or doing anything, "he knows way too much. It's too much of a risk,"

His eyes slowly trailed up to look at her, feeling defeated and hopeless, Jason wanted to help her but there was no chance he could.

Carly was right. Holbrook and Alison had won this time.

"It's not going to be long before my past and everything that's happened will come out."

After the events of that day and the disaster of a dinner date Carly and Jason had, she believed that the Holbrook drama would have hopefully blown over between them. She would have liked Jason to forget about it and move forward, just like she was trying to and so far seemed more optimistic about.

The messages, the threats and the attacks towards her had suddenly stopped. Carly could presume it was because Alison was in jail with no communication to the outside world, Holbrook had lost his job, Alison had cut him off and hopefully he had got out of town after Carly's encounter with him.

But that didn't stop the anxiety she felt every time her phone went off or someone knocked at her office door. It was like a constant impulse in her mind to presume the worse and think it was going to be coming from -A.

Carly wasn't the only one who was still being affected by Holbrook's attempts to rattle her.

When Carly returned her from work one evening, she could clearly notice that Jason had been working hard to track down the ex-detective and still put him in his place for the harm he had brought to her.

Slipping off her jacket and laying her purse down on one side of the kitchen table, Carly wandered round to the other side of it, where Jason was sat on his laptop reading something intently.

As she approached closer, Jason clicked off the web page and turned his head to look at her with a smile, "Hello. How was your day?"

"Fine, thanks," She told him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pecking his cheek, "how was yours?"

"Great thanks, babe," Jason responded, bringing his hand up and playing with her fingers, "I didn't make a start on dinner yet because I didn't know what you wanted."

"Oh it's fine," Carly assured him, pecking his skin once again, really having missed him today, "we can just put anything on."

"Ok." He nodded back at her, before pecking her lips once.

Standing back up, Carly squeezed Jason's hand and then headed over to the living space of her apartment. Going over to the window, Carly pulled the curtains, blocking out the evening sky outside and then flicking on the floor lamp in the corner of the room.

As she leant back up from bending over, Carly's eyes flickered over to the laptop screen Jason was sat in front. The once screensaver background he had up on the screen when she had walked over to him, had gone and the page he had clicked off was back on the screen.

Frowning in curiosity as to what he was looking at, she slowly wandered over as quietly as she could. Already seeing how he was intently fixated on the page in front of him. It wasn't until she got closer to the screen, she could see just exactly what Jason was looking up.

Carly couldn't believe him.

They were supposed to be forwarding, not going backwards and making the situation worse.

Jason suddenly flinched when he felt Carly's hand's clamp down onto his shoulders, knowing that he was busted and couldn't cover his tracks now. He shouldn't have been so surprise, that girl was a detective in training.

"What do you think you're doing?" Carly asked, bending down and keeping her lips close to his ear, when Jason remained quiet feeling guilty, she spoke up again "hmm?"

Sighing in annoyance at how he couldn't get away with this, Jason slowly turned around on his seat and went to stand up, but Carly pushed him back again, before she feld her arms across disappointingly, "well?"

"Carly..."

"Jason, I thought we already went over this..."

"We did!"

"And you still can't leave it alone."

"But that guy tried to kill you, Carly," Jason expressed his reasons for doing what he had planned on, "I can't let him get away with it. He should be behind bars with Alison."

"There's nothing else we can do, Jason," Carly tried to tell him, "Tanner got him fired and off the force. He hasn't bothered me since. If we try anything else, it will just make him come back and it will be ten times harder this time."

"And just because he's off the team you think he's going to go away?" He asked her, but he already knew the answer, "I've watched you the last few days. It's still bothering you and you're tense."

"It's to be expected, I've been through a lot," She was tired of this coming between them, "I'm going to be a little jumpy."

"It shouldn't have to be this way." Jason sighed.

Grabbing hold of his hands, Carly linked their fingers together and got him to look at her, "I know. But we're going to be fine."

"And if he comes back? What are we going to do then?"

"Then we'll deal with it, if and when it happens," She was surprised at her new found optimism, but Carly couldn't let Jason continue to seek revenge, "but right now, I'm managing and we're living free from his threats."

"I guess so." He huffed.

Jason still wasn't happy though. He respected Carly enough not to go against her desires. But it still didn't sit well with him letting all of this slide.

"C'mon, Jay," Carly tried to get him to ease up, "everything's going to work out."

"You really think so?" Jason couldn't quite believe this was really how she felt.

It had to be an act. Carly was not over this.

"I don't know what to think anymore, Jay," She admitted to him, seeing that he wasn't going to back down, "but I'm just trying to move forward. I've got the trial coming up at work. I need to focus on that and I can't afford to be distracted by this mess with Holbrook."

"But what if he comes back, Carly, near the trial and does mess things up again?"

"Then I'll deal with it, Jason."

Carly let go of his hands, folding her arms across her chest like she always did whenever she was annoyed. God, she loved him so much and appreciated how concerned he was for her. But he had to drop it. It was silly now and letting Holbrook win without any input from him.

"But you're so worried about your secrets coming out," Jason reminded her, causing her to frown back at him, "why would it even be so bad if they did?"

"What?" Carly scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief that he didn't actually know.

It would ruin her if they did.

"The police I understand and your Dad, but everyone else in town?" He continued on pressing her for an answer.

She exhaled loudly, frustratedly but also worried, "I couldn't have them look at me in a different way."

Jason froze for a minute, taking in what she had just admitted to him and told him. Part of him felt hurt by what she had said. His own mindset taking it the wrong way, but it didn't stop him from wanting to find out why she'd think that would be the case.

"What? You mean how they see me?"

"No!" Carly quickly assured him, her tone strict and serious, "not at all."

She knew this would happen. Carly knew Jason would keep reacting this way.

What Jason was implying was far from the truth. Carly never felt that way about Jason and would never use him as an example. She knew people in this town didn't have the best judgement of him. But that was far from how she felt about him and didn't see it like that.

But it was different for her. Carly had always been seen as a good girl. The smart and career minded girl of the town. The one who kept out of trouble and lived a normal life. No one would believe it or look at her ever the same again if they knew what she got up to behind closed doors through her senior year.

This could all have been avoided if she just didn't tell him.

Why couldn't she just have calmed herself down and stopped going into that restaurant in such a state?

Then she wouldn't have had to tell him what had happened. Instead she could have just told him he got suspended and left out the parts about them encountering each other.

"No, that is what you're implying, Carly," Jason was adamant she could just be honest now, tell him that was how she really saw him and felt, "I get it. You didn't want me in your life back then really, I was damage and still am."

"No," She interjected once again, stepping forward and grabbing hold of his hands again, "that's far from the truth, Jason."

"However many times you tell me to not to, Carly, I will always blame myself for the way you ended up and the consequences you're still living with this day."

"No," Carly shook her head, she hated hearing him say that and still blame himself, it had to stop, "none of that was your fault and neither is this. I was aware of my actions and never did anything to stop myself."

"But I got you into that lifestyle..."

"But you were also the one to get me out of it." She reminded him.

Sighing, he glanced down at her and cupped her face in his hands, "If anything ever came out about you, I would stick by you through everything, you know that right?"

"I know," leaning up, she pecked his lips lightly and rested her forehead against his, "I know."

The next day at work was busy and hectic for everyone except Carly. She felt like as the days went past since Holbrook had been suspended from the case, her workload had got lighter, whilst everyone else's seemed to get heavier.

It was like she was doing full circle. She was doing the same exact work she had been doing when she first joined all those months back, maybe even less at times and it confused the hell out of her as to why she wasn't working her ass off like she had been, or even more at least.

But she had a good idea as to why Tanner had shortened her tasks and involvement.

It was to do with Carly's closeness to the people on the case no doubt and how she didn't have Holbrook anymore as her partner anymore. Tanner was keeping close eye on her, just like she was with Toby as well. But Tanner had no reason to be suspicious of either of them, particularly Carly who was just trying to do her job.

But that didn't stop Tanner from sending the two of them out in Toby's truck, having a drive around and get out of the office for the afternoon, to check out the on goings in town and also report anything suspicious.

They had been driving around for a good hour with small talk, when Toby had made the decision to drive to Hollis, the local arts college in Rosewood, to go pick up some class schedules for his stepsister, Jenna, after they had not found anything out of the ordinary and thought he could use his time usefully.

When they pulled up outside the college, Carly felt nostalgia hit her, very much like the same feeling she felt when she pulled up in Rosewood after three years. Of course she didn't go to this university, but being back on a campus ground made her think of her college days.

Climbing out of the car with Toby, the two of them walked around the campus, trying to locate the student services so Toby could pick up the class schedules for Jenna, who was planning on coming here after senior year had finished.

Carly couldn't believe it had nearly been four years since she had been in that position and had been off to college.

As they rounded the corner of a row of small stores, coffee houses and student facilities, Carly felt her smile grow on her face when she saw a familiar fellow sat outside on one of the tables, chatting away to a male and looking the most relaxed she had seen the teenager in ages.

She rolled her eyes over to the guy next to her, his expression blank and totally not what she had been expecting him to act when he saw her sat there. Maybe it had to do with her being with another guy, who Carly couldn't work out who it was yet, or maybe something was going on between the two of them.

"Hey." Spencer called, upon seeing the two of them come round the corner.

"Hey." Carly and Toby both chimed back, coming over to talk to her and stopping beside their table.

"How's it going?" Toby asked, once Spencer had leapt up from her seat to join them.

"Um, good," She responded, looking at them and then down at her friend, "You remember Jonny?"

"Yeah," Toby nodded, offering him a small smile, "hey."

But it didn't meet his eyes nor did it look real.

Carly could feel the awkwardness lingering in the air. It made her feel uneasy to be around them.

Johnny waved back at Toby, before looking over at Carly, unsure of who she was, just like she was regarding his identity.

Who the hell was Jonny?

"This is Carly, she works with Toby and also a friend of Melissa's," Spencer introduced the two of them, "and this is Jonny, he's renting out our guest house."

"Oh I see," Carly looked back at Jonny, "nice to meet you."

"You too." Jonny smiled.

"What are you doing here at Hollis?" Spencer asked, looking between the two cops.

"We were just out on a drive and I thought I could go pick up some class schedules for Jenna." Toby informed her.

"What are you doing here?" Carly quizzed her.

"Uh, Jonny has an old friend who has an Oxford connection and he just..."

Spencer glanced back over at her friend, who was shaking his head and urging her to stop, causing Toby and Carly to look on with confusion.

"...it doesn't matter. But how have you both been? Is Tanner still making you work 24/7?"

"Pretty much." Toby answered.

Though that was far from the truth, for Carly anyway, her shifts ended even earlier these days and it annoyed the hell out of her. But she daren't argue back with Toby, since there was clearly something going on between him and Spencer.

"Well, if you're free tonight..."

"I'm not," He quickly interjected, causing Carly to frown at why he was acting this way when Spencer was trying so hard, "but I'll call you later."

"Sure," Spencer's voice sounded so disappointed and it made Carly feel sad it was like this between them, "okay."

The teenager glanced over at Jonny again, who was sitting there feeling just as awkward as Carly was to be stuck in the middle of this conversation.

"Uh, it was nice to see you again." Toby told Jonny.

"Same here," Jonny commented, "and nice to meet you, Carly."

"You too." Carly smiled at him, then looked over at Spencer nodding at her.

"Ready to go?" Toby asked Carly, who nodded back at him and then turned away with Toby following beside her.

"Chi ama crede."

Carly spun her head round, when she felt Toby turn around after hearing those words escape out of the other guys mouth just a few yards away from where they were once disappearing away.

Confusion came over the two of them, but Toby's was more so an annoyance towards this guy who had seemed to have taken a liking to his girlfriend and was loving every minute of rubbing it in his face.

Oh god, this could have not ended well.

"What did you say?" Toby questioned, coming back over to the table.

Carly looked over at Spencer worriedly, who gave her also a look and then stared back at the two guys.

"It's an expression. In Italian," Jonny explained to him, upon seeing his anger, "And completely pretentious."

Toby gave Jonny a look for a moment, before he shook his head and backed away from the awkwardness and tense situation. Carly quickly followed after him, continuing their journey to the student services and the whole way over did Toby not mutter one word to Carly, nor did she him because she was afraid of the mood he was in.

Carly knew not to get involved, but she also couldn't stand back and just let Toby act like this towards Spencer.

She knew something must have gone on and no doubt it was to do with Toby's time on the force, as well as the struggles the girl's were all going through. It was a risk them being together. Just like it was for Carly and Jason.

But Carly couldn't help but get herself involved further in the drama.

"Cut her some slack."

Toby's head turned over to the girl sat beside him in the passenger side, a sympathetic smile present on her face as she stared back at him. He frowned back at her slightly, not wanting to have to talk to her about it nor bring it all back up.

"Who?"

"Spencer."

"Forget it." Toby told her.

But Carly couldn't.

"That girl is crazy about you and loves you, anyone can see that," Carly began to remind him and also explain, "even me the girl who hasn't even been in town that long and hardly knows either of you."

"You think so?" He looked out the front window.

"Oh yeah," She assured him, before sighing lightly, "I know how hard it is being on the force and also having the people you care about involved but from the other side, but Spencer would do anything for you."

"I know."

"So please just stop with the whole front."

"It's not a front," He defended himself, "I have to put my job first. We both do. This is serious."

"I know, but there are other ways to go about things and not upset anyone." Carly responded.

"She just can't understand that I can't know certain things," Toby ranted to her, "it's too much of a risk."

"And some risks pay off."

"Not ones like this," He huffed, "they never do, not with Tanner, Alison or anyone else for that matter around."

"Tanner we can deal with and Alison's locked up..."

"And Detective Holbrook's off the case," Toby finished for her, "I know that. But it doesn't change anything. It's not over."

"Why not?" She asked confused.

With Alison going on trial for murdering Bethany Young and Mona Vanderwall, as well as Holbrook out of town and stopped with his games, everything had been settling down, but Toby was sounding like it hadn't, not for them at least.

"It's not that simple." He admitted.

"Nothing ever is in this town." Carly sighed, looking out the window beside her, as Toby started the engine up.

She felt the uneasy feeling return in her stomach. The unknown fear back again. Carly was now aware that things for the other girls werent over. It began to make her think that maybe she'd be hit again next.

Carly had been way too optimistic about things looking up for her.

* * *

 **Author note: Hello everyone! I'm back with another update. Kind of a short one again, but still lots of interaction with Jason/Carly in this one. I promise you that it will get more intense soon with the trial approaching. Please stay around for that I know you're going to love it.**

 **Big thanks to ImsebastianstanButter, RHatch89 and LiLuLo12 for reviewing the last part. I'm glad you're excited to see more.**

 **I'd love to know your predictions for the trial. What do you think is going to happen? Will Holbrook stay away? Will Jason be able to control his anger and not risk their relationship anymore? Will Carly be able to hold it together and make it through?**

 **Best wishes,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	43. Chapter 43

"Please stop that."

"Stop what?"

Carly rolled her eyes playfully at the man above her, topless and in his white boxer shorts, staring down at her with a mischievous look across his whole face, the same look that always made her go weak at the knees, even when she was a teenager and set her eyes on him for the first time.

"You know what," She said, before leaning forward and pulling his body on top of hers, "teasing me like that."

"I'm not teasing you..." Jason tried to defend himself, staring down at the girl below.

"So kissing my body for the past ten minutes isn't teasing?" Carly raised her brows up amused.

"It's pleasure, Carls." He corrected her, pecking her collar bones lightly.

"No, it's teasing," She repeated, meeting her eyes with his, "especially when you've been teasing me on text all day and then I get home and you're not even giving me what I want."

"And what is it that you want?" Jason smirked at her, moving his face closer to hers.

Looking deep into his eyes now he was right above her, Carly placed her lips lightly on to his and wrapped her arms around his neck, "I think we both know I want you."

"Oh yeah." He grinned, pecking her once.

"Mmm."

Carly closed the gap between them once again, instantly deepening it when Jason kissed her back passionately. His hands began to move down her underwear clothed body, whilst she ran her fingers through his hair.

They had both been wanting this all day and now it was finally happening they couldn't hold up.

It was always like this with them. So much tension and arousal whenever they were around each other. They actually felt like teenagers all over again. Their hormones and lack of control always getting the best of them.

Both of them blaming it on the fact they never got to do this much when they were that age.

After a few moments, Jason detached his lips from hers and trailed them down her body. Starting from her jaw, working down her neck towards his favourite area of her, her shoulders and collarbones, before he edged towards her chest and pecked the hollows of her breasts.

Carly sighed at his touch on her skin, as he went back to teasing her body and she kept her hands firmly in his hair, loving how good he always made her feel, physically and emotionally.

She couldn't have felt more happier when he was around. Jason always brought out the best in her. Just like she did with him.

As Jason went to unclasp her bra from off her body, the sound of Carly's phone vibrating and ringing on the nightstand beside them, broke them out of their passionate moment and back into reality.

Jason groaned when Carly slipped out from under his body and wondered over to the side of the bed, "Please don't answer it. I need you so bad."

"I have to, Jay," Carly smiled over at him helplessly, "It's important. What if it's work?"

"I doubt it will be," he responded, sitting down on the bed instead of kneeling like he had been, "they haven't exactly been getting you involved lately."

"Don't remind me," she grumbled back to him, before grabbing her cell phone and seeing a now missed call from her best friend appear on the screen, "oh shit..."

"What?" Jason asked.

"It's Brooke, you know my friend from New York?" Carly told him, looking up from the device.

"Oh yeah," He slowly nodded back at her, "are you going to call her back?"

"Would you mind?" She bit her lip, looking over at him.

Brooke and Carly hadn't had a proper catch up in the longest time. With the girl's living in different states now and both being busy with their careers, they had hardly had the chance to speak lately. The last time was a few weeks after Carly had been in New York and that was months back now.

"No, of course not," Jason assured her, slipping off the bed and heading over to the doorway of the bedroom, "you can talk to her if you want, but that of course, means no sex."

"Jason." Carly whined, her bottom lip flexing out slightly.

Here he was teasing her again.

Chuckling back, Jason lingered in the doorway, before he stepped into the living space, "Take the call, Carls. I'll be through here if you need me."

Smiling over at him, Jason shut the door behind himself and Carly took a seat down on her bed, bringing the phone up to ear once she hit the call back button and waited for her friend to answer.

"Hello."

"Hey," She greeted back cheerily, hoping things wouldn't be awkward since they hadn't talked in months, "sorry I missed your call before."

"Oh it's fine," Brooke assured her, the tone in her voice as warm as usual, "how have you been?"

"I've been good, what about you?" Carly responded.

"Yeah, things have been great," Her friend informed her, "I finally got a job. That's purely the reason why I haven't been in touch. I've been meeting a lot of families and working with them."

"That's great, Brooke," She beamed, "I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks," Brooke could imagine her friend smiling from the other line, "how's work been with you?"

"Crazy," Carly told her, with a light sigh, "I've got my first trial starting soon. I'm nervous, but so excited."

"You'll do great. You always do." Her friend assured her, knowing Carly would be fantastic however big or small her role would be.

"I hope you're right."

"Of course I am," Brooke enthused, "plus you'll have that hot sexy detective working beside you. How could you fail?"

"Oh god." Carly laughed awkwardly, Brooke had no idea what had been going on with Holbrook since they had last spoken.

"I'm planning on coming to see you very soon." The New Yorker announced.

"When?"

"Whenever you want me to."

"Well I have the trial coming up," She reminded her, "so I'll be busy with that for a few weeks or so."

"And Detective Holbrook? Where does he come into it outside of work?"

"Brooke!" Carly sighed, running her fingers over her hair, "When will you drop that?"

"What?" Brooke tried to stop herself from laughing, "don't pretend you don't like it..."

"Seriously. Just don't."

Carly couldn't help but snap back at her friend. The remainder of Holbrook and the awful things he had done to her hit her hard. The idea of her best friend still hanging onto the idea of him and her romantically involved made her feel disgusted.

"What? What's wrong?" Brooke was suddenly very aware of how annoyed Carly sounded, she was worried she'd upset or gone too far, "I'm sorry. What's happened?"

"Just forget it." Carly advised her.

"Carly..."

She wasn't in the mood to talk to Brooke anymore or even explain to her why she was acting the way she was when Holbrook was mentioned. Carly didn't want Brooke to know. Because then it meant exposing what she had been up to since being back at home.

This also meant making Brooke aware of something that her best friend could easily go to tell her Dad about. She knew she could trust her friend. But with what's been happening here, it was too dangerous and would only make matter worse.

Carly wanted to be back with Jason in her safe place.

"I'm going to go, I think," Carly told her friend, climbing up from the bed and hearing Brooke say her name again, "I need to get ready for bed and that. Work again tomorrow so."

"Carly..."

"I'll talk to you soon, ok?" She hated having to do this, but it was for the best if Brooke didn't know the truth, "Congratulations with the job again by the way."

Pulling the phone away from her ear, Carly hit the hang up button and laid her phone back down. With a sigh, she guilty wandered out of the room and went over to Jason, who was sat in the arm chair waiting for her.

As soon as she appeared, he could see she looked distressed and instantly had to know what was up, "Carls, are you alright?"

"Yeah, just had the most awkwardest end to a phone conversation with Brooke ever." She answered, coming over to him.

"What happened?" Jason asked, pulling her onto his lap and wrapping his arm around her waist.

"She just kept going on about Holbrook," Carly informed him with a groan, "it was like a reminder of the awful things he's done and how I was lucky to get away from him when I did."

"Carls..."

"But it didn't make me feel any better lying to her and keeping it all from her," She breathed, "I hate lying to people. It's not me. It never has been. But I have to for everyone's sake."

"Of course," Jason leant over, pecking her cheek gently, "you're doing the right thing not getting her involved. She's a good escape for you when you don't want to deal with the drama of this town."

"Exactly," She nodded in agreement, looking down at him, "you always know what to say."

"I do try." He smiled.

Leaning back down, Carly reconnected her lips with his, wanting to go back to what was happening before the phone call and just get away from everything for a while with Jason by her side, feeling on top of the world and not having to focus on the worries flooding through her mind every second of the day.

Jason ran his fingers up the side of her body and began to toy with her bra strap again, where he soon pulled it down her arm, before kissing where it once was and sending shivers to crawl all over her body.

"Jason." Carly sighed in pleasure, the teasing he had been doing before, returning quickly and sending her crazy again.

"Hmm." He hummed back, continuing to trace her skin with his lips.

"Please," She begged him, "I need you now."

Hearing her words, she didn't need to ask him twice to do exactly what they both wanted that night. Removing his lips from her, Carly slipped her body off of his lap and Jason stood up with her.

Turning to face each other, Jason hooked his hands under her bottom and carried her through into the bedroom, whilst Carly's lips attacked his neck, wanting to get him back for teasing her so much earlier and trying to again then.

Once her back collided with the mattress on the bed, Jason got back on top of her and connected their lips. Both of their hands crawling over each others bodies hungrily, wanting to avoid any more interruption and just get on with it.

Carly's fingers stopped at the waistband on Jason's boxer shorts, her fingers slipped inside the material and when she heard him moan in frustration, she slowly began to pull the garment off his body, leaving him butt naked in her bedroom.

As Jason slipped the boxers off his body and tossed them behind him on the ground, he glanced over at her with a mischievous look, which she instantly returned and began to crawl over to him.

Before Carly could even get the chance to pleasure Jason, there was a loud knock at the door, sending the both of them scrambling up onto their feet in sheer panic and Carly grabbing her clothes off the floor.

"Who the hell is that?" Jason hissed yet in a quiet tone.

"I don't know," Carly spat back at him, the panic was prominent in her voice, as she slipped her t-shirt over her head, "but what are we going to do..."

"I don't know," Jason mumbled back, slipping his boxers back on and staring at her with the same fear in his eyes, "we could ignore it..."

Carly went to respond to his idea, when there was another knock at the door and this time a voice yelled from behind it, "Carly! Carly! It's your Dad. Open up."

Her head snapped back onto Jason. The panic she had felt before was nothing compared to what she was feeling now. Her Dad was right there. Behind her front door. Wanting to come inside and see her. Whilst Jason was here. Basically naked. About to have sex with his daughter. A guy who despised him.

And who had no idea that they were even together or back in touch.

"Jason," Carly grabbed some pyjama shorts under her pillow, slipping them on and wondering over to her bedroom door, "you have to hide or something. My Dad can't find you here."

"I know, I'll take care of it," He assured her, though he was freaking out himself, this could not be happening right now, "just shut the door and go see what he wants."

Nodding back at him, Carly jogged out of the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her and gathering up Jason's things inside the living space, that includes his laptop, jacket, some work files and keys, before she shoved them into some storage space.

Once she was done, she quickly made her way over to the front door to see her Dad. Before she pulled it open, she took a deep breath and forced a smile on her lips, trying to hide the nerves inside her.

"Dad! What a surprise," Carly said once the door was open and she stared back at her father, dressed in his work attire and looking confused, "what are you doing here?"

"I came to check on you," He informed her, slipping past her and coming into the apartment, "I wanted to make sure you were ok."

Rolling her eyes at his rudeness to just enter and also his protectiveness, Carly shut the door up and turned round to face him, "I'm fine. But I was planning on having an early night before my overprotective father showed up."

"I'm sorry, Carl's," He apologised, looking back at her with a light sigh, "I just need to know you're doing alright."

"Why?" She frowned back at him.

When would he ever stop pretending like she was still a kid?

"Because Brooke called a little while ago when I was on my way to work," John explained, "she was worried about you, said something's happened between you and Holbrook."

"No." She lied.

God she hated lying, especially to him and Brooke, but she couldn't tell him about Holbrook.

Plus he would presume or already was that they had gotten together, but had fallen out, had some argument or even split up. It was such nonsense and far from the truth of the reality.

"Carly," John breathed, knowing his daughter wasn't being honest, "if something has, you have to tell me. A problem shared if a problem halved."

"There is no problem Dad..."

"Please," He urged her to be honest with him, despite how angry she looked, "I don't want you being upset or stressed."

"I'm not either of those, Dad," Carly told him sternly, "if you really must know, he got fired. That's all."

"Are you upset by this?" John asked.

She scoffed instantly at her Dad's question, "far from it."

"What? I thought you would be. You two were getting on so well and becoming such a great team."

"No, you believed we got on so well," Carly corrected him, not even caring if she was being harsh with him, but she was tired of people pressuring her to be with the guy and see him in a good light, "that was far from how it was."

"Don't say that..."

"It was, Dad," She sighed, running her hands over her face, "you need to go. I just want to go to bed and sleep."

"Carly, I will not leave you when you're in this state.."

"I'm not in any state, Dad," Carly spat back at him, "apart from the one you and Brooke have made up in your head. I'm fine. I'm just tired from work. I want to go to bed, but I can't do that if you're stuck here."

"I came over to help you," He informed her, his voice also annoyed now, "I didn't come over here to be talked to like that."

Shaking her head, Carly exhaled loudly, hating how it came to this but she had no choice but to get him to leave, Jason was still in her bedroom in his underwear, this was so risky and Carly needed to try harder to get him to leave.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine," He assured her, slowly heading over to the door, "I just won't bother next time."

"Dad..."

Carly found herself stopping what she was about to say when she saw her father pause in the middle of the room, his eyes fixated on the male shoes sat beside the door, Jason's work shoes that he had took over when he got in from work earlier on.

Busted.

John slowly turned his head round to look at his daughter, seeing the guilty and worry across her face, "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Dad, I can explain..."

Carly had to cover her tracks or at least give him some proper explanation as to why Jason DiLaurentis was back in her life.

"Where's the guy, Carly?" John asked her, looking around the room for any signs of anymore objects belonging to the anonymous source, before he began to head further into the room again, "Huh? Who is he?"

"Dad, what the hell?" Carly was beginning to freak, why was he insisting on knowing who it was and also acting like he was going to find him here, "Please. Stop this."

"Is it Holbrook?" John questioned, looking behind the back of the couch and then wandering over to the bedroom door, Carly quickly coming over to try stop him, "Is that why you were acting that way about him? You want to hide him from us..."

"Dad," She warned him, before he quickly put his hand down on the door and pushed open the bedroom door, "Please..."

Stepping into the room, John glanced around the place, taking in the room and shaking his head in amusement at what he saw. Carly stepped through, panic flooding through her veins and fearing what was to come now her Dad had found out.

But a wave of relief washed over her when the room was empty. Jason wasn't nowhere in sight. He was gone. Not even a trace of him was left in the room. Not even the whole apartment apart from his shoes by the door. He had vanished and completely stopped John from finding out about him.

"I'm so sorry, Carly," John chuckled embarrassed at his actions and persistence, "I honestly thought you had some guy here. My mistake. I do apologise."

"Oh, Dad," Carly giggled nervously, before an idea came into her mind, "there is no guy. Those shoes were actually a gift for you. But the surprise is kind of ruined now."

"A gift for me?" He repeated confused, as the two of them walked back through into the main space, "Why would you buy me a gift?"

"For everything you did for me after the crash. Taking care of me in the hospital. Making my apartment nice and welcoming to come home to. Helping me through my recovery and checking in on me."

John came to a stop by the door again, looking down at the shoes and then back at his daughters way too enthusiastic smile, "I see. That's very generous of you, Carls. But you don't have to do that. I'm your Dad, it's what Dad's do."

"I know, but I just wanted to repay you," She explained, laying her hand on the door and slowly opening it up for him to leave, "but I guess now that you know, I'll have to return them and find something else."

"I guess you will," He innocently smiled back, "I'm glad you're ok."

"Thanks," Carly returned the gesture, as he stepped outside into the hall, "have a good shift."

Once her Dad had bidden her farewell, Carly quickly slammed the door shut, locking it as she did and then running through into the bedroom, just as Jason had finished jumping back through the window causing her to jump in surprise at his grand entrance.

"Y-y-you weren't out there this whole time were you?"

"Yeah," Jason answered, still in his boxers and nothing else, his other clothes he was now tossing back onto the bed in a heap, "of course I was. I couldn't have your Dad find me."

"You're crazy." Carly laughed, wondering over to him and laying her hands on his chest.

She was so shocked he had stood on her window ledge, outside in the pitch black, in his underwear, on a tall building just to prevent her Dad from finding out about them.

But it had worked. Well it seemed like it had. John was acting like he had no idea. Carly wasn't going to sit and fret about it whilst she had the chance to be with Jason.

"It worked though, didn't it?" Jason smirked down at her, wrapping his hands around her waist.

"Oh yeah." She smiled, relief washing over her face.

"Third time lucky?"

Carly looked back at Jason, the smirk growing bigger on his face and she couldn't help but giggle helplessly back at him, before smashing her lips back onto his and laying back onto the bed with him.

This time hopefully not getting interrupted.

* * *

The following day Carly was working an afternoon into the night shift at work, one she hadn't done in some time and one that was also lacking in things to do just like the past week or so.

It was really beginning to get on her nerves that her progress was lacking with the minimal work Tanner was sending her way. She wanted to work her ass off and get qualified already so she could lead investigations as a proper detective.

But at this rate, she was going to be stuck in the same position doing nothing for another couple of years. Carly could only hope that once the trial began, Tanner would flood her with work and she'd regret not being more positive about the situation she was currently in.

Carly had just finished filing away some papers, when she heard her cell phone vibrate in her bag across the quiet office she was in. Without Holbrook in there with her, it was a big space for just herself and a lonely one too. But it beat him being there with her, watching her every move and shooting some snarl remark her way.

Sighing at how she had forgot to turn her phone off during her coffee break over an hour ago, Carly wandered over to get the device out of her purse. She was planning on ignoring the call and turning her phone onto silent.

But when she saw who was calling and knowing it had to be important if they were, Carly found herself shutting up her office door and taking a seat at her desk, her cell now up to her ear after redialling their number.

"Spencer," Carly said when the teenager picked up moments later, not even giving her a chance to speak, "what's up?"

"I need your help." Spencer told her, the worry and panic clear in her voice.

What the hell had happened?

"Ok," She bit down on her bottom lip, worried now herself what was going on and what she wanted her to do, "what do you need?"

"Toby's going to be walking through the station anytime soon with Jonny," Spencer explained, "I need you to do something about it. Jonny's innocent."

"What?" Carly was confused, she span herself around slightly to look out the window in her office door, but there no signs of Toby or Jonny insight yet, "Why? What's happened?"

"It's too long to explain," The teenager told her, not wanting to have to share what they did with another cop, even if it was one she trusted, "just please do something about it."

"I can't if I don't know the full story, Spencer," Carly tried to tell her, she was putting her in an impossible situation, "you need to tell me why Toby arrested Jonny. Then I can figure out what I can do."

"Someone stole our art we did at Hollis and put it in a gallery," Spencer informed her, through shaky breathes, "we went and claimed it back. Toby must have got a call in about the break in and arrested Jonny for burglary and stolen goods."

After hearing the teenager finally tell her the truth, Carly opened up her laptop screen and logged onto the Rosewood Police Department software. She looked through the latest reports, seeing that in fact there had been a burglary tonight at the art gallery.

But what was Carly suppose to do?

Jonny had committed a crime. He had burgled the place and took goods from it. That was against the law. Carly could reason with Toby for arresting the guy. But she also felt bad that Spencer was so shook up by it. Also she had to take into consideration that they were also apparently Jonny's artwork, that someone had taken to the gallery and used as their own.

That was also a crime in itself.

"Please," Spencer sighed from down the line after things went quiet, "just do something."

"I'll try my best." Carly assured her, already clicking off the software on her laptop and pulling up the list of contacts for the local lawyers.

One person already springing to mind and one Spencer would be pleased that she could possibly be helping the situation.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," The trainee began to write the number down on a sticky note, then bidded the teen goodbye, "Take care of yourself, Spencer."

"Thank you again, Carly," She responded, before they said goodbye and the line went dead.

Pulling her cell phone away from her ear, Carly stepped up onto her feet, making her way over to the office phone to make a phone call, but her eyes caught the two males now entering the station.

One of them happened to be office Cavanaugh and also Jonny the arrestee for the night.

Laying her pen and note down on the table, Carly pulled open the office door and headed out into the foyer to meet them at the front desk. Toby was checking in Jonny for his arrest and when she approached them, the two of them glanced over at her.

Toby already knew he would be getting interrogated by the girl and Jonny was surprised to see her again.

"Hey," She greeted the two of them, forcing a small smile on her lips, not wanting to go in too heavy with Toby, so she acted oblivious, "What's Jonny doing here?"

"He broke into the local art gallery and stole some of its goods." Toby informed Carly.

"Good's that belonged to me." Jonny added.

"He's adamant that the work belonged to him and Spencer," The officer explained, though he didn't by it, "but it still doesn't give him a pass for breaking in."

"And what about Spencer? Sound's like she was at the scene too," Carly noted, looking at Toby curiously, "I don't see her here in handcuffs too."

"No," Toby looked away awkwardly, knowing she was on to him now, "I told her to go home."

"And why's that?" She folded her arms across her chest.

"Doesn't matter," Toby looked over at Jonny, grabbing the forms he had just filled out at the front desk and motioning for Jonny to fall him, "come with me."

Jonny rolled his eyes at the officer's behaviour and attitude towards him, before he followed Toby over to the waiting bench and the office instructed him to take a seat, as he went through into his office.

Looking away from Jonny, Carly quickly headed after Toby and caught him at his desk, "Are you going to tell me what that is really about or?"

"Nothing other than doing my job," He said, flicking through the paperwork on his desk, "which is exactly what you should be doing, shouldn't you?"

"Oh I am, very little of it what is left from my small list of tasks to do," She grumbled, before shaking her head and getting back to the point, "but bringing Jonny in here and arresting him is to get back at Spencer, right?"

"No." Toby denied the accusation, avoiding her eye contact.

"Really?" Carly wasn't buying it, "because she called me, not long after you turned up here tonight, freaking out about you arresting Jonny."

"Not my problem."

"She's your girlfriend, Toby," She couldn't believe he was acting this way, Carly believed that Toby and Spencer had been good together, but maybe Toby joining the force had changed that, "you don't just turn your back on her."

Toby finally looked at her, angry she was telling him how to act, when she was also not doing the right thing, "Yeah I have to and you should be doing the same."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Carly asked, clearly feeling the same frustration he was.

"Sneaking around with people involved in the case and who once have been suspects." He told her sharply.

Carly shook her head, unsure of what to say, did he know about her and Jason, or was he just talking about her closeness with Spencer?

"It's best if you just go back to your work and leave me to deal with Jonny." Toby suggested, picking up the right paperwork and going back through into the foyer.

Exhaling loudly, Carly stormed out of his office and past the two males, making her way back into her office, closing the door up slightly with a force. Going over to the note, she picked it back up and made the phone call, she had already been planning on doing anyway.

After a few rings, the person on the other end picked up and Carly felt her weird hearing a voice from her past on the other end, "Veronica Hastings. It's Carly Monroe. A friend of your daughters, but also a trainee Detective at Rosewood Police Station. I could do with your help please."

Carly was grateful to walk out of the station later that night, after the encounter with Toby earlier and the lack of work she had to do, the last place she wanted to end her day was cooped up inside the station going bored out of her mind.

As she came down the steps of the station, her eyes rolled over to the rental car that was parked out front, the car she was still using until she got her's back from the accident and honestly she couldn't wait to see it parked out front again.

Digging her hand into her purse, she grabbed hold of her keys and unlocked the car up. She just seconds away from opening up the door and sliding inside, when something slipped in the wiper on the front screen caught her eye.

With confusion, Carly leant over and took the card like object out of her wipes. She hadn't seen it in there this morning and began to worry if it was a parking ticket. But that made no sense. She didn't have to pay to park outside work, so it couldn't have been anything like that.

As she turned over the piece of car in her hands, Carly felt her stomach drop when she saw what was on the other side of it. Disgust. Fear. Sadness. Those three emotions quickly washed over her like a rash.

The picture in her hands, staring back at her hard and causing her to feel like the world around her was caving in, was from the one thing she had thought she had seen the last of and no one would be able to get their hands on ever again.

It was a screen grab from the tape.

The sex tape.

The sex tape of her and Eric Kahn. The sex tape that Holbrook had got a hold of. The sex tape Alison had given to him. The sex tape that Eric so desperately wanted and to act out again for his own pleasure. The sex tape Carly had hide securely in her apartment for months now and checked every day to see if it was still there.

And this morning, before she had left for work it had been.

But there was this possibility now that someone had come into her apartment whilst she was out, found it and took it for their own enjoyment. Now they were taunting her with it.

Or there was the possibility that Holbrook had got another copy of it from Alison, the person who had the tape in the first place. He was working with her still and was still plotting his revenge on her. His next move was to take her down by that stupid tape. He knew it had a hold on her so no wonder he'd use it.

She had been so wrong to think that 'A', Alison, Holbrook or whoever the hell this freak was now had actually stopped messing with her.

They still there. Just like they were with the girls too.

Feeling shaking up and fearful for who was lingering around her now, Carly quickly shoved the pictures into her bag and hurried into her car. She couldn't stop worrying about so many different things, including how many people had seen the photo stuck in there and now knew she had a sex tape with Eric.

Starting up the engine, Carly made a quick escape out of her parking bay and began her journey home, back to her safe place with the guy who made her safe, hoping that the things she dreaded were far from the truth.

After a ten minute drive, Carly was climbing up the stairs that lead up to her apartment and once she was outside of it. She unlocked the door and came through into the apartment, Jason was nowhere to be seen at first, until she trekked further through and saw him sat on top of the bed on his laptop.

When he saw the ghost like colour across her face and how shaken up she was, Jason quickly pushed his laptop to the side and headed over to check out what was going on with her.

"Carls," Jason said as he got closer to her, as she slipped her bag off her arm and laid it on the end of the bed, "are you alright?"

"No," She shook her head, looking up at him with tears in her eyes, god she didn't want to cry, but this had really thrown her, "I'm not."

"What's happened?" He asked, more concerned than ever now.

Jason hadn't seen her look that way since she encountered her first panic attack in front of him.

"I-i-i don't even know how it has managed to happen, but I was leaving work and I found something stuck in my wind screen wipers." Carly told him, through shaky breathes.

"What was it?" He asked, his own heart thumping in his chest with anticipation.

Placing her hand into her bag, she pulled out the photo and handed it over to him, "How did someone get it, Jason?"

As he took the photo from her, Jason glanced down at the picture now in his hands. The only time he had ever seen the tape was when Ian had taunted him with it. There were only certain parts he had seen involuntarily, but Jason could clearly see the still was from the night Carly lost her virginity.

Carly was stood draped over Eric, her hand's on his chest, his on her waist and his lips attached to her bare chest. The only item of clothing on her body was her heels and the lacy red underwear that covered her private area. But of course, Eric was still fully clothed, the buttons on his shirt unbuttoned giving her access to his chest.

Jason couldn't believe someone would actually put a picture from the tape on her car for the whole world to see and provoke a reaction from Carly.

He blamed himself for this. Ian had put the camera in that room that night because he thought Jason was going to sleep with Carly. Never did he intend to actually record Eric and Carly going at it. Ian saw this as a bonus, because he had actually caught something much better in his eyes on tape.

It was stupid and disgusting. Jason hated how he had once been involved with that messed side of things. He blamed the drugs and the booze for making him do things he wouldn't have done sober.

But intoxicated or aware, he would have never recorded Carly.

Even if it was him, she had lost her virginity to.

"This is so messed up," Jason commented, taking his eyes off the image and back onto the broken girl in front of him, "I am so sorry this has to happened to you."

"It's not your fault," She reminded him, taking the picture and screwing it up, before tossing it back in her bag, "you didn't do this."

"No some messed up freak did it."

"I know." Carly sighed, taking a seat down on the bed and trying to calm herself down.

"When will they stop, huh? You said Holbrook would stop," Jason began to rant, his anger taking control, "and I was actually just then believing you were right. But now I'm not so sure."

"Jason," She didn't want to go through this again with him, "I don't know who did it. Yes, maybe Holbrook did, but it could be Eric or Alison for all we know."

"Ali's inside..."

"Doesn't stop people, Jay."

"Then we have to tell someone," He suggested, Jason was desperate now and tired of Carly getting attacked for no reason, she was so innocent, "we go to Tanner and tell her Alison or Holbrook is harassing you."

"No!" Carly shook her head, "No way!"

"C'mon, Carls," Jason tried to get her to see how this was damaging her, as well as them, "this can't keep going on."

"I know, but telling Tanner isn't the answer to this."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" He asked her, folding his arms, "sit here and wait for the next attack."

"No, but we do get on with our lives," Carly told him sternly, "I'm way too scared to go to Tanner or anyone in a higher authority. That means exposing more than we need to. We keep this between us. We deal with it ourselves."

"I can't..."

"Yes you will," She stood up onto her feet, laying her hands on his shoulders, "if we go to someone else, we let them win."

Jason sighed, running his hands over his face and needing to get some space, "Alright. Fine. I'm going to take a shower."

Letting go of him, Carly watched as Jason grabbed his towel and headed into the en-suite to shower, as well as probably calm down and get away from her. She hated arguing with him, but it was for the best if they kept it between them and also Spencer who was being targeted by the same person.

She couldn't have Jason making things worse even if he was only trying to help. Carly appreciated his attempts and protectiveness over her, but it was best to leave it for her to deal with and focus on his own family matters.

Sitting down on her bed, Carly heard her phone go off in her bag beside her and dug her hand into it, already presuming it was going to the worst. She was guessing it was a message from 'A', asking her if she found the picture on her car and how much she liked seeing it again.

But her face was relieved when she saw who was actually getting in touch with her that night.

"Hey Spencer."

"Carly, thank you so much," Spencer exclaimed down the other end of the phone, "I had no idea you would get my Mom involved, but I really owe you one."

"Nonsense, it's fine," She assured the teenager, "how did things turn out?"

"He got released on bail," Spencer informed her, "but he's moving out of the guest house."

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that." Carly could heard the disappointment in the girls voice.

"Yeah," Spencer sighed lightly, "how are you?"

"I'm fine." She kept her answer minimal.

Carly was far from fine. She was tense. Worried. Scared. Irritable. On edge.

"Really?" The teenager wasn't convinced, she didn't sound her usual cheery voice, "you sound..."

Carly glanced behind her at the closed door Jason was behind, taking a shower and unaware she was talking to Spencer on the phone through in the other room.

Turning back round, Carly sighed and stood up from her spot on the bed, "Something happened tonight."

"What do you mean?" Spencer asked, somewhat worried.

"I think I got targeted by our harasser." She told her briefly.

"Really? 'A' targeted you again?" Spencer was shocked by this.

"I think so," Carly's eyes rolled over to the ensuite door again, "I thought it was over, but clearly not."

"What happened?" The teen pressed.

"Someone left an image on the front of my car of me from a few years back in a more than private encounter," She explained, keeping her answers minimal, because she didn't want to reveal the whole truth, "Alison and Holbrook both knew about that same encounter."

"No way!" Spencer was more shocked than ever, "you're not the only one who's been getting messages and other things also..."

"I know, Toby hinted about it earlier," Carly responded, her eyes still flickering to the en-suite door, "it has to be Holbrook. I really rattled him the other day. Alison is in prison, there is no way she could have done that by herself locked in there."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that..."

Before Carly could question her as to why, she heard the shower turn off in the en-suite and the door cubicle door open up, signalling Jason was finished in there and would be heading back out anytime soon.

"Spencer, I have to go," She told her in a hushed tone, scrambling back onto the bed, wanting to appear like she had just been sitting there, "I'll speak to you soon. Bye."

Carly quickly hung up the phone, chucking it back into her bag and folding her arms over her chest. It wasn't long before Jason remarked from the shower, wrapped in a white towel around his lower section and the water dripping from his chest.

If they hadn't been in such a heated debate before he had gotten into the shower, Carly would have so been over there smothering him in kisses. But she felt awkward and tense around him after what had happened.

They both felt different about how to handle this. Jason would rather act on his anger. Whilst Carly would rather let her anxiety win than opening up about her past to those who she really didn't want to find out anything.

"I'm going to go get a take out," Jason informed her, walking over to the chest of draws in her room and taking one of his tops out of it, "do you want anything?"

"Uh no, thanks," Carly answered, watching him as he dried himself off, then slipped the shirt over his head, "I'll just find something to cook."

"Ok." He mumbled back, grabbing some clean underwear and his jeans, before slipping them on.

Once he was done, he hooked his towel on the towel rack inside the en suite, then grabbed his wallet and phone off the bed, before heading to the front door of the apartment, causing Carly to quickly stand up.

"Jason."

"Yeah?" He turned his head back to face her.

"This is the right thing to do, you know that, right?" Carly said, standing against the door frame of the bedroom staring at him.

Jason looked back at her for a moment, before he continued his way over to the door and headed out to grab a take out, leaving Carly alone to cook dinner for herself and figure out how the hell they were going to overcome this one.

* * *

 **Author note: So sorry it's been such a long time since I updated again. I have no other reason than I just haven't found the time and life always seems to get in the way. But with less than a month until the last 10 episode's of PLL start up, I thought it was time I put up another few parts for you guys :) let me know if that's what you would love to see!**

 **Poor Carly and Jason :( always something trying to push them apart! First Brooke and her Dad and now 'A' is driving them apart. But I like how close Spencer and Carly are getting. Carly need's a girl BFF in Rosewood!**

 **Special thanks to ImsebastianstanButter, RHatch89 and Guest for reviewing the last part. I hope you weren't angry with the fight again between J and C. They'll work things out though. I'm not going to let things end that quickly no matter what 'A' does ;) because let me tell you this, the trial is going to be hard for the two of them. It's going to test them so much! You better hold on tight.**

 **I'd love to hear what your thoughts are on this part and what you're most excited about PLL returning for the final time!**

 **Best wishes,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


	44. Chapter 44

When Jason returned around half an hour later, Carly was just then finishing up pulling together some pasta. The tension was thick again when he came through the apartment, a chinese bag in his hand, which he laid down on the table and took a seat to tuck into said food.

Carly sighed when she realised he was still hardly talking to her, before she began tipping her pasta out of the pan into a bowl and added some sauce to the dish. Once she was done, Carly made her way over to the table to join him.

The whole of dinner and the time after that was more awkward than ever before. Jason felt like he couldn't say anything to Carly due to the mood he was in. He was just so frustrated and tired of feeling so hopeless towards the girl he would do anything for.

Carly on the other hand knew he was mad. But she presumed it was at her, rather than about her and the situation. She thought he was being this way because of her choice not to be open with the police about her past, as well as the harassment she was going through.

It wasn't until they both got into bed that night that they actually opened up to each other and sorted things out.

Rolling over in the darkness, Carly flicked on the lamp on her bed side unit, unable to switch her mind off and just sleep. She couldn't go to sleep knowing her and Jason weren't ok. It made her feel so uneasy and unhappy.

Sensing Carly was still awake, much like himself, Jason slowly rolled over to face her and saw that she was now sat up against the headboard. Sighing to himself, he decided to sit up with her and make sure she was alright.

Looking over at him, Carly shone him a shy smile when she noticed he was looking back at her, "I couldn't sleep."

"I gathered that," He responded, as she turned her head away, "do you want to talk about it?"

"Is there much else to say?"She questioned, still not looking at him yet, "we both can't agree on what to do. It's fine. We'll get over it."

"It's not fine," Jason said, taking hold of her hand and linking their fingers together, "none of this is ok. I hate that you don't want to do anything about this nor do you want to tell people the truth about your past, but I respect you enough, Carl's, to not push you or go against what you want."

Carly felt the tears well up in her eyes at what he was saying, feeling emotional and so very grateful to have him, "You really mean that?"

"Of course," He nodded, bringing her fingers up to his lips and pecking the back of them lightly, "I'll just have to get over it. But it doesn't mean I'm less mad about the situation."

"I know," She sighed lightly, resting her head on his shoulder, before he granted her access to his chest, by wrapping his arm around her, "but we'll get through this. We have to."

"I hope so." Jason pecked her the top of her head lightly.

"I don't want this to come between us." Carly expressed her concern.

"It won't." He assured her.

"I don't want to lose you, Jay."

"You won't, Carly," Jason rubbed her arm lightly, "I promise."

Looking up at him, she pecked his lips lightly and sunk further down onto his chest, wrapping her arm around his abdomen and snuggling into him, relieved that despite their differences, they could be like proper adults about this.

They could talk maturely and sort things out without arguing further.

Carly couldn't have been happier to have Jason by her side through all of this.

And Jason was glad he could be there for her.

Just like the next morning when Carly pulled her car up outside the Hasting's property, knowing she was going to be there for Spencer now and the girl was going to be doing the exact same back to her.

Stepping out of the car, Carly grabbed her bag and felt waves of nerves come over her to be back here once again. Everytime she stepped onto the Hastings or DiLaurentis properties, the reminder of how much of a risk she was taking always hit her.

But it also made sure she was being careful and extra vigilant on anyone near by, who might see her and become suspicious of her choice of location for the morning. Somewhere were you typically wouldn't have found her.

Opening up the gate that Spencer had left unlocked for her, Carly stepped into the backyard of the property and headed towards one of the back doors of the house. As she got closer to the property, she could hear talking coming from inside and she slowly raised her hands up to knock on the glass lightly.

Within a few seconds, the teenager came to the door and greeted her, "Hey. Come on in."

Spencer stepped aside, allowing Carly to come through into the house and also ushered her into the kitchen space of the house, where they always talked when Carly had been over and she had spent some time in throughout her teen years herself with Melissa.

As she came into the house more and Spencer closed the door behind her, Carly was surprised to see Veronica, the woman she had spoken to on the phone last night, stood in the kitchen also shocked to see her there.

"Carly," Veronica said, looking over at the girl, offering her a warm smile, "I didn't know we were expecting you..."

Carly glanced over at Spencer, already feeling the tense atmosphere around her between the mother and daughter, maybe she shouldn't have come over "If this is a bad time..."

"No," Spencer quickly cut in, shaking her head and coming over to stand with them, "it's not."

"It's good to see you after our phone call yesterday," Veronica informed Carly, "although I am surprised you've made friends with my other daughter."

"Yeah it's kind of funny how that's worked out." Carly laughed lightly.

It was weird. But it worked.

"Maybe you can talk some sense into Spencer." Veronica looked over at her daughter unimpressed.

Carly rolled her eyes over to Spencer, raising her eyebrows up in confusion, "What's going on?"

"My daughter seems to have been making field strips to prison to visit a certain DiLaurentis," Veronica explained, though she didn't know why she was bothering, Carly probably already knew from being close to Spencer and also working at the station,

but reality was Carly had no idea Spencer had been to see Alison.

"Our family has bent over backwards to keep Spencer out of that place and now she's voluntarily showing up there."

"Mom, I told you," Spencer interjected, Carly could feel her stomach start churning at the family argument taking place, "it was the first time I've even gone to visit Alison..."

"And your last," Veronica warned, picking up the papers on the table and walking over to her daughter, "This series of poor choices ends today. If you're going to skip school, then it's going to be so you can get into a better one."

Taking the papers from her Mom, Spencer looked down at the information now in her hands and Carly also took a sneaky peak at too, "London?"

"I spoke to Wren," Veronica explained, causing Carly to raise her brows more at the mention of Melissa's boyfriend, "and he managed to get you a..."

"You called Wren?" Spencer repeated surprised, "You hate Wren."

"Well I'm not holding out for Jonny Raymond's connections to pull through," Veronica spat back, "Wren got you an interview with a very-well respected professor at Oxford. You'll be staying with him and Melissa. Your plane leaves tonight. So if I were you, I'd start packing."

Spencer stared across at her mother gobsmacked that this had come about and so soon. She didn't want to have to leave when so much was going on and she needed to be here for her friends. But with the way her mother was speaking, it was frightening her to refuse the offer of going to London and attending the interview.

"Nice to see you again, Carly," Veronica grabbed her bag off the counter, before she passed them and headed to the door Carly came in, "have a good day."

"You too," Carly called back, watching the woman leave and then turning round to face Spencer, "you went to see Alison?"

"Don't you start..." Spencer grumbled, running her hands over her face after she laid the papers down.

"You should have told me!"

"I didn't know what I was allowed to share with you anymore. I've already got one cop off with me and not allowing me to be in his life."

"Forget about Toby for a second," Carly sighed with a shake to her head, "why did you go see her?"

"Because we made a breakthrough last night."

"What happened?"

Spencer wondered over to the seating area of the living space and took a seat down, Carly following her over and taking a seat next to her, the detectives face full of concern and interest to what had been going on last night.

"Mona faked her own death."

"What?" Carly couldn't believe what she was hearing right now, this surely could not be true, but this town was so messed up and surprising that Carly could see how this was possible, "how?"

"You know Mike? Aria's brother," Spencer began, then continued when Carly nodded back, "he'd been dating Mona..."

"Yeah..."

Carly knew a lot about most of the teenagers in this town. She worked on the case and had studied the file like the back of her hand. It did slightly concern her when she found out little Mike Montgomery was dating someone like Mona.

But who was she to judge?

"And Mona had told him the night Alison supposedly murdered Mona, that she was planning to fake her death and make it look like Alison had done it. It was the only way Mona was going to be able to get to -A and everyone was suppose to be safe." The teenager explained.

"What?" She really wished Spencer hadn't told her this, because now Carly knew Mona wasn't actually dead, then Alison was in jail for no reason, she had pushed Jason to go rat on his sister,

Alison was innocent for this, the guilt was so real right now and Carly was so unsure she was going to be able to keep quiet, but she had to, "Spencer..."

"I know it's a risk you knowing, but I had to tell you," The teenager explained more, "especially when you are also still being targeted by 'A'. We were wrong to think it was Alison."

"Oh my god," Carly gasped, the guilt and shock getting to her, but at least she was supposedly on the right track with something else "it has to be Holbrook then! I knew it."

"Are you sure though?" Spencer looked at her, uncertain that Holbrook would do this.

Maybe towards Carly but not for them. He wasn't a likely suspect from their side.

"Of course I am," She assured Spencer her theory was possible, "he knows everything about me and has a motive to want to harm me like this. I rejected him countless of times and got him fired off the force."

"Ok," Spencer slowly nodded, before she nervously continued, "but what if you just dropped the Holbrook act for one moment..."

"And what?" Carly raised her brows up questioningly.

"If it isn't Holbrook, then why would this 'A' want to do so much damage to you just like they have been doing to us for years?" Spencer pressed.

"I-I-i guess because of my connection to Jason, who has links to Alison and then has connections to you guys." She suggested nervously.

Carly knew if she wasn't careful, Spencer would get more out of her than she actually wanted to expose.

"And last night, you said that 'A' attacked you again," The teen went on, looking over at Carly watchfully, "what did they do?"

Carly's eyes rolled down to the bag sat on her shoulder and sighed lightly, before she slowly dug her hand inside and held the picture she found on her car last night in her hand, "Holbrook threatened me with the proper thing a while back, after he went to Alison to get it."

Slowly handing it over to the teenager, Spencer took it from Carly and looked down at the photo in her hand. She found her eyes widening slightly when she saw a younger version of Carly in her underwear, her boobs were covered slightly by the guy in the photo, Spencer recognised as him to be Eric Kahn, completely throwing the teenager to think that Holbrook and Alison would go to these lengths to hurt Carly like that.

"Oh my god," Spencer glanced back up at Carly, her face sympathetic and guilty, "I'm so sorry they would do this to you."

Carly swallowed away the lump that hard formed in her throat and forced a smile to her lips, "It's typical Alison and Holbrook would do anything to get one on me."

"Alison must have really taken a disliking to you..."

"Oh yeah," She sighed, looking away from Spencer, "she always saw me as a threat."

Spencer was about to quiz the young woman beside her, when the double doors from behind them opened up and in walked the other teenagers of the girls group, causing Carly to quickly snap her head round and stand up from where she was beside Spencer.

"Oh sorry." Emily apologised, when she saw that they had been having a conversation and by them entering it had put a stop to it.

"Hi, Carly." Aria greeted, a little surprised to see her there talking away to Spencer.

"Hey, Aria." Carly mustered up a smile back.

Spencer quickly folded up the photo in her hand that Carly had given her, before she slipped it inside the Detective's bag on the floor and Carly grabbed a hold of it, knowing that now the girl's were here, it was her cue to exit and stop herself from exposing more of her past to Spencer.

"I should, um, probably get going," She announced, before moving over towards the door the girl's had just come in from, "nice to see you all."

"Nice to see you." Hanna and Emily called back.

"Bye Carly." Spencer and Aria also bidden her farewell.

Once Carly was outside and wandered down the steps of the decking, she breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't gone too far with her secrets, but also somewhat assured that she had confided in Spencer about this stuff.

It was easier to talk to her because she was also going through the same thing.

But she was feeling ridiculously guilty and on edge about the fact Alison was actually innocent amongst all of this. Well, according to Spencer and the girl's she was in relation to Mona's death. It made Carly feel so bad for persuading Jason to rat on his sister, when she was in the clear after all.

She had no idea how she was even going to explain it to him. Carly wondered if she could even do that because it would mean informing him about just how close she actually was with Spencer. But somehow she knew she couldn't keep this from him.

This whole situation was just one big mess.

But not as big of a mess as Carly dug herself into later on that day.

It was her day off, so after she had gotten home for visiting Spencer early that morning before school had started, she returned to an empty apartment as Jason was working. She had decided to clean the whole place, do the washing, food shop and also catch up with any work she was flagging behind in.

It was nearing 6pm that day when Carly was sat on the couch, flicking through the local newspaper, waiting on Mr DiLaurentis to come back from work, when she heard her phone start to ring beside her on the arm of the furniture.

Picking up the cell phone, Carly felt a frown form on her face when she saw that Melissa Hastings was calling her, a friend she had not caught up with in weeks and knew that because Spencer was on her way to London that Mel probably wanted to know what to expect when her sister turned up.

"Hello."

"Hey, Carly," Melissa greeted her back in a friendly tone, "how are you?"

"Hey Mel. I'm ok thanks," Carly informed her, closing up the paper "how are you?"

"I'm good," Melissa responded, before it went silent for a moment, "I hear you and Spencer have been awfully close."

"Oh, Mel," She couldn't help but laugh, she didn't know if it was the awkwardness or because Melissa sounded bitter about it, "I'm guessing you spoke to Spencer or your Mom."

"My Mom said you called her the other night and also said you were over at the house this morning," Melissa explained, "I know that you wanted to look out for Spencer, but I didn't know it meant befriending her."

"Well she has had a lot going on, we've been helping each other out," Carly found herself explaining, but keeping her answers brief because she didn't know how much Mel knew about the situation, "it just kind of happened after everything."

"You mean like receiving messages from Alison black mailing and threatening you?" Melissa presumed.

"Yes, that." Carly sighed lightly, knowing that it possibly wasn't even Alison anymore, but she'd let Mel believe that.

"I take it you've been receiving more?" Melissa asked, almost accusingly.

"Yep."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because, Mel, you are basically on the other side of the world," Carly explained, she really didn't want Mel to act this way with her, but she knew her friend wasn't happy about her lack of updates regarding the situation, "I don't want to have to bother you every time something happens. It's not fair on you."

"I have to know though, Carly," Melissa expressed her concerns, "this cannot go on."

"I'm dealing with it."

God, you could tell Melissa was related to Jason in someway, they were both adamant that she couldn't cope or survive taking care of things herself.

"Yet it still continues..."

"Mel, seriously," Carly breathed, pushing the newspaper off her lap and beside her instead, "I'm not doing this with you."

"I just want people to stop messing with you and Spencer," Melissa continued on her rant, "especially you when you went through enough last time you were in town. You don't need the DiLaurentis family making things worse for you all over again."

"It's not just Alison though." Carly told her.

"Oh yeah," Melissa was intrigued to find out who else had been messing with her friend, "Who else has been threatening you?"

"Let's just say you were right about the person I had started dating the last time you were in town."

The line went silent for a moment, before Melissa figured out who Carly was referring to, "Detective Holbrook?"

"Yeah. I take it your Mom or Spencer forgot to mention that he had been having a relationship with Alison."

"What?" Carly could imagine Melissa's face of disgust, "God, what is it with her an older men? Wasn't Ian enough for her to realise she's just a girl!"

"I don't know, Mel," She sighed, getting up from the couch and wondering over to the window, "it's messed up. I just can't get over Holbrook actually going to Alison for dirt on me. You remember the virginity tape, right?"

"Of course, even with Ian dead those tapes still haunt me." Melissa grumbled back.

"Well Alison had it all along. I reckon Ian gave it to her. When Holbrook went to Alison for dirt on me, she handed it over to him and Holbrook used it against me." Carly informed her friend.

"That bitch," Melissa hissed with anger, "I hope you're not seeing him anymore..."

"Oh no, no way, trust me," Carly shook her head, even though her friend couldn't see her, "we didn't even get to the third date. I'm so glad I got out when I did. He's the biggest douche I know and that's saying a lot."

"That is saying a lot," Melissa responded, "What have you done about Holbrook then?"

"Well nothing really," She admitted, somewhat fearful of her friends reaction, "he got suspended, so he's not working on the force anymore or with me thankfully."

"But he's still targetting you, right?" Melissa presumed, "him and Alison?"

"I guess..."

"You need to tell the police about this," Melissa instructed, her voice stern with her, "this can't keep happening, Carly."

"I know. But I also don't want my past coming out and going to the cops would involve exposing all of that," Carly told her, taking a seat on the arm of the couch and pulling the curtain back when she noticed a familiar car drive past, "I can't do that. You know I can't."

"I get it," Melissa huffed, wishing her friend was brave enough to risk all of it, but she understood Carly couldn't do it, "maybe you should come stay here with me..."

Carly felt a smile grow on her lips when she witnessed Jason's car drive off, heading to his usual hiding spot, where he parked his car in an used parking spot around the block, so if anyone came to the apartment or drove past wouldn't wonder why he was at Carly's apartment.

"Thanks for the offer, Mel," Carly began, pulling back the curtain and standing back up, waiting for Jason to come back home any minute now, "but I'm going to have to pass. I want to stay here. I want to stay with Jason."

The trainee Detective hadn't even realised her slip up until after she had said it and the line went completely silent on the other end. She mentally cursed at herself for being so stupid and dropping herself right in it. Carly never intended to Melissa about her being back with Jason, because she knew Melissa hated the idea and also Jason. She knew her old friend would try talk her away from him.

But now she had just so easily let Melissa in on her dirty little secret, that she was involved with the Hasting's half brother, all over again and revising part of her past behind closed doors.

"Did you..."

"Mel," Carly sighed frustrated with herself, "I am so sorry..."

"You and Jason?" Melissa said, like she was in shock and disbelief to hear her friend say their name together.

Melissa hadn't heard that in a very long time. It had never been Jason and Carly. It had been Jason. It had been Carly. For the past three years.

"Melissa. I can explain."

"Yeah you can, Carly," Melissa laughed bitterly, this was far from amusing, "I can't believe what I'm really hearing..."

"I know I should have told you..."

"But you didn't."

"No. Because I know you hate him.."

"Of course I do!" Melissa spat back, "I hate that whole family. They didn't just mess you up, but they also messed me, Spencer, my whole family have been broken because of them. They're dangerous. Disaster followers wherever they go."

"I know that, Mel," Carly exhaled loudly, not liking how nasty and judgemental her friend was being, "but you know how I feel about Jason, how I have always felt..."

"Yeah I do and it still blows my mind that you won't let him go," Melissa responded, the frustration clear in her voice, so much so that it was making Carly also annoyed, "he's no good for you..."

"Yes he is!" She defended Jason, but also herself and their relationship, "he's more than enough, Mel."

"Seriously?" Melissa scoffed, she couldn't believe Jason had wormed his way back into her friend's life just so easily and right under her nose, "he messed you up, Carly. He got you doing things you had no control over. He got you on the receiving end of Alison's threats. No wonder she'd target you again."

"It wasn't like that, Mel," Carly could feel her anger moving through her veins, her spare hand was even clutching into a fist, "you know it wasn't..."

"Yes it was! Are we both forgetting what happened to you?"

"Don't."

"This is so serious," Melissa tried to tell her friend, "you have to stop..."

"No! I'm not going to. I love him."

"You think you love him, but you're still wrapped up in that teenage fantasy.."

"That is far from how it is," Carly snapped her head over to the door, when she heard Jason stood outside fumbling with his keys, "this is exactly why I didn't tell you."

"You're ridiculous."

"I'm not doing this with you, Mel."

"Carly..."

The young woman watched as her front door opened, revealing the guy who had been the main topic of this heated argument between the two former friends, when he saw Carly stood there on the phone, looking frustrated and like she was about to cry any moment, his face flooded with concern.

Coming more inside, Jason closed the door behind him and raised his brows up, before mouthing, "Ok?"

Carly shook her head, before getting back to her phone call and wanting to end it, "I can't. Please just leave me alone, Mel. I swear though if you tell anyone..."

"I wouldn't do that," Melissa assured her, however angry she was with her friend, she would never expose her secret, "you know I wouldn't."

"I have to go." Carly quickly hit the end button and hurried over to Jason.

As she came to a stop in front of him, she threw her arms around his neck and held on to him for dear life. Jason managed to put his things down onto the counter beside them, before he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"What's happened?" He asked her, rubbing his hand up and down her back soothingly.

"Don't even ask." Carly groaned back, burying her head into his chest.

"Not another threat?" Jason presumed.

"No," She shook her head, wiping away the fallen tears, but there wasn't enough to make her full on cry, "just Melissa Hastings, your half sister, trying to know what's best for me."

"You told her about us?"

"I slipped up, Jason," Carly sighed, pulling away from the embrace and looking up at him, "I didn't mean to. But it just came out so naturally."

"And she didn't take it to well..."

"No. She hates the idea of us together, she always has done."

"Just ignore her, Carls," Jason suggested, running his hands over her hair, "she isn't even around, so I don't know why it's her concern."

"I know," She breathed, laying her phone down on the counter, "I just wish she thought different about us."

"She'll come around." He assured her, as well as himself.

Jason and Carly both knew that it would take some work with trying to get Melissa to warm to the idea of them together. But both of them hoped that now they were older, mature, in control of their old habits and the situation was different, that the people who never got them before did.

But tonight with Melissa just proved to Carly why she was so reluctant to tell people about her and Jason, particularly her Dad and Tanner.

It was a recipe for disaster.

But not as big of one as what was to come...

A little while later, Carly was sat on her laptop up the table trying to get through the unread and junk emails in her inbox. Jason had just come out of the shower, now dressed in some sports shorts and topless, wanting to just relax with Carly for the rest of the night after the things they had been through the past week or so.

It had been hectic as usual. But for them things had been tense. Carly still had to tell him about the whole Alison thing. She had no idea how she was going to break it to him. He would be so angry at not only her, but Spencer and himself.

They had been bickering a lot more than usual over keeping their relationship a secret, Alison and Holbrook, the threats Carly had been receiving and now Melissa also knew about them. But she knew revealing the truth about Alison to him would send them over the edge.

Everything was getting more complicated and confusing. It was really taking it's tole on the two of them. They felt tense to be around each other. Carly wondering when Jason would crack and demand they go tell the police about everything that's been going on and Jason just waiting for Carly to break down in fear.

But both of them were far too stubborn to give in that easy.

Carly wouldn't let it get to her that much. She had learnt ways over the years to manage her worries, even though sometimes they did take over her and she had bad days, she was still strong enough to handle this.

She wouldn't have gone into law enforcement if she hadn't believed she was. But then again, Carly didn't expect to actually be living out the investigation, rather than putting the pieces together on the side line.

Jason just wanted to have some fun with his girlfriend. He wanted to just make her feel good and also connect with her, push aside all the angst and tension that kept surronding them, especially after Carly let slip about their relationship to Melissa.

One of the worst people to tell it to ever. She hoped that Melissa wouldn't be stupid enough to blurt it out to anyone else, but she could already imagine her picking up Spencer from the airport tonight demanding an answer behind this secret.

As she was sitting there trying to keep her attention focused on the emails, rather than thinking about how she was going to break the news to Jason, a text popped up on her cell phone pulling her attention off one screen and onto another.

Jason raised his eyebrows up slightly a little worried who it was going to be from due to recent circumstances, as he took a seat on the couch and Carly tried to ignore his watchful look on her when she picked up her phone.

Do you have a chance to talk? It's important. - Spencer

She felt a frown form on her face, curious as to why the teenager wanted to speak to her when she was suppose to be in London, then Carly began to wonder if it was because of the Melissa thing.

"Anyone important?" Jason asked from across the room, when he saw her frown.

"Uh no," She answered, somewhat nervously, Carly didn't know if Jason would like it if he found out just how close her and his half sister were, "not a threatening text don't worry."

"Good." He responded back, before pulling out his own laptop and switching it on.

Sighing lightly, Carly quickly tapped a text back to Spencer and put the phone back down on the table beside her, before she gave into the online shopping tab open on her laptop.

Jason's over. What's up?x

Disaster interview from hell. Someone's blood was in my purse and it leaked everywhere. 'A' put it in there and the bitch also put some guy Alison had been using in the hospital. I don't know what to do! Have you told him about Alison yet?

No way! I'm sorry to hear that. Just try enjoy your time in London with your sister and no I haven't. Also don't know what to do!

She's not even here! You have to say something to him.

I don't know how. He'll be pissed. What do you mean Mel isn't there? I spoke to her earlier and she knows about Jason and I.

Carly suddenly felt a pair of hands come down onto her shoulders and a kiss being planted on the side of her face, "come to bed with me." Jason whispered in her ear seductively.

"It's still early, Jay." Carly laughed lightly, laying her hand on top of his and putting her phone face down on her lap.

She hated it when he was being nice to her, when she was so guilty of making him go against his sister and now had to tell him the truth.

It made the situation so much worse than it had to be.

"So?" He moved her hair away from her face and planted a kiss on her jawline, "means more time to have fun..."

"Jason." She exclaimed, sensing Jason's arousal that night and what he was implying, but she really wasn't in the mood after the last few days, Carly just wanted to relax.

"What?" Jason smirked against her skin, trailing kisses down her neck, "C'mon, Carls."

"Not tonight..."

Carly hated letting him down, but she also didn't want to force her interest towards him that night. She'd feel more guilty and would hate him to think she wasn't interested. But then Carly should have known Jason would take her rejecting him also that way.

But she had her reasons for not wanting to be intimate tonight. Carly couldn't bring herself to be that way when she had so much going on in her head and everytime she even looked at him, she feel so terrible for the truth she had to tell him about.

"But we both need this," He complained slightly, detaching his lips and smoothing down her hair, "it's been tense lately. I just want us to feel good together."

"We can, Jason," She tried to tell him, spinning around to face him now, "just not in that way. I don't mind sitting and watching a movie with you on the couch like we sometimes do."

"Yeah, but it's not the same as being able to make you feel good physically." Jason explained with a slight sulk to his face.

"I know," Carly sighed lightly, feeling ridiculously bad, but they had been at it a lot lately, so it wasn't like he never got it, she just wasn't in the mood tonight, "but we can have a night like that another night."

Before Jason had the chance to respond to the woman below him, the sound of Carly's phone vibrating on the glass table and also ringing out the message tone filled the room, causing Jason to exhale loudly in annoyance.

"Clearly you don't want to because whoever you're texting is clearly way more interesting." Jason grumbled.

"Jason," Carly breathed loudly, not liking his attitude tonight, when her texting was only innocence, she wasn't doing no wrong, "don't be like that. It's just Spencer."

"Spencer, huh?" He scoffed, going back over to the couch and taking a seat back down, "she sure as hell likes to wiggle her way into your life."

"That's not what it's like, Jason." She defended her friend, as well as their friendship.

"Oh really? Because ever since you two have been close, things have just been one big mess and I hate it." Jason informed her how he really felt.

Carly felt somewhat hurt by this. But also annoyed at herself for letting Spencer and all the other stuff come between them. It shouldn't have to be like this between them at all.

"It's not her fault, Jason."

"Really?" He didn't see it like that, "because she is always getting involved with things that don't concern her. Just like she did with what happened with Alison."

"About that..."

God she had to just be honest now. She knew how he'd react. Carly hated herself for it, but she had to be honest.

"What?" Jason raised his brows up with confusion.

"Alison might not be so guilty after all..." She bit her bottom lip anxiously, fearing his reaction already.

"What do you mean?" He questioned her further.

"Apparently Mona planned on faking her own death and making it look like Alison had done it. It was an accident. Alison supposedly had no involvement with Mona's murder." Carly confessed to him.

"The cops tell you this?" Jason snapped at her, before he scoffed unamused, "no wait, it was Spencer, right?"

"Jason.."

"No! I'm sick and tired of Spencer coming between us, as well as breaking up my family."

"Please. Just calm down. It's not Spencer's fault," Carly wanted Jason to see this from a different point of view, not let himself get so angry, but that was impossible, "you agreed with her about Alison, remember? It's not all her fault Alison is in prison."

"I know that. It's mine too and you know what, Carly?" He continued to rant at her, his emotions out of control now, "I hate myself for it every single day. I put my own sister in prison."

"You should have told me you felt like that." She told him with sadness in her voice, having no idea he was hung up on going to the police on his sister.

But now he must have felt even worse for putting his sister inside. Carly felt a huge amount of guilt for it and she hated Alison, but Jason must have been feeling so much worse being the girl's brother.

Jason shook his head, as Carly got up from her chair up the table and slowly came to stand in front of him, "Like you would have listened, you're too busy talking to Spencer, keeping things from me about my own sister and telling Melissa about us..."

"That was a slip up and you know it," Carly shot back, feeling her own anger linger through her veins, "you're always the one telling me to just be honest about us and my past, now you're annoyed at me for telling Melissa."

"I'm not annoyed at you for telling her, I'm just fed up of you paying the consequences for being close with these girls." He explained.

"It's not their fault," She tried to make him see sense, but she knew when he was angry that was far from easy, "I have my own past. I know the actions I carried out would lead to consequences and they did."

"Yeah and they still are," He reminded her, causing her to shake her head in annoyance, "you're still getting punished by some stalker for your past and even now in your present."

"I know," Carly sighed, tired of this constant arguing with Jason, it was like never ending, "but we've already had this conversation, Jay. Plus I didn't know how to tell you about the Alison thing, but I did Jason. I was going to and I have now."

"Yeah and I can't sit here anymore going over it again and again." Jason quickly leapt up from the couch, making his way into the bedroom and taking a sweater out from the draws.

Carly felt her stomach drop when she saw Jason disappear out of the room, then come back in with his sweater on, car keys now in his hand, causing her to dread the worst instantly.

"Jay," Her voice was low and her mouth was going dry, she watched him grab his laptop and phone off the couch, "Where are you going?"

Was he leaving her for what had happened to Alison? Was this it for them? Were they over?

"I don't know, Carls," He answered her honestly, before going over to the door and slipping on his shoes, "I just can't be here."

"Why?" She felt herself beginning to panic, like he was walking out on her for good and like this was the end of them, "Please.."

"I think we just need some space for the rest of the night. I'm getting far too angry about everything and I'm tired of it coming between us. I don't want you to see me like this anymore." He explained to her, looking over at her with guilt when he saw the panic over her face.

Jason didn't want to leave her when she was like this, but it was for the best if they had some air to breathe rather than getting at each other.

"Ok." Carly felt herself lost for words and even unsure what to do.

But Jason was right. The longer they stayed around each other tonight, the more the both of them would be at each others throats and making things worse. Carly knew her anxiety would hate the idea of him leaving on bad terms, but overtime the unpleasant feeling would pass and Jason would come back.

"Don't wait up for me," Jason told her, opening up the door and looking back at her, "I don't know how long I'll be."

"Where are you even going to go?" She asked again, worried about him now more than herself, what if he did something stupid to himself due to his anger.

"Probably book a room in a hotel and sit in there, do some work or something," he paused when he saw the look on her face, "I'm not going to do anything risky don't worry."

"Promise me?" Carly begged, slowly coming over to stand in front of him.

"I promise." He assured her, brushing his fingers with hers, before he slipped out of the apartment door and headed out of the building.

Once she heard the apartment block door open and close, Carly shut up her apartment door and laid her back against it, feeling the tears prick her eyes, as well as the constant churning and pounding of her heart.

She wanted to break down and cry about what had happened tonight. Her old friend found out about her secret relationship. Stuff had happened with Spencer. Carly had to tell Jason about his sister. Jason and her had argued once again over the stalker situation.

Everything was one big mess.

But Carly wouldn't let it knock her down so easily.

Taking a deep breathe in, she tucked her hair behind her ears and came back over to her seat up the dining table. Carly sat there for the rest of the night, chatting to Spencer, clearing out her emails and treating herself to some online shopping, until she was sleepy and headed to bed.

Carly felt empty and lonely once she had climbed under the covers, resting her head on the pillow and staring at the blank space beside her, where Jason pretty much slept every single night for the past few months.

Now he was gone to god know's where and doing what, instead of being beside her and keeping her safe from all what was wrong in their lives.

It wasn't until she found herself slowly drifting off, when she heard the front door unlock and open. A small smile came over her face, knowing that it was probably Jason returning and now would be joining her in bed.

But when she heard the door lock again, the sound of footsteps padding across the living space floor and the whole apartment falling silent again, Carly realised he wouldn't be joining her in bed.

Instead he had took the couch. He was avoiding her, keeping his space from her until this night of tension had passed. But what Carly wasn't aware of, that by morning Jason would head out early from work and not even greet her with a good morning.

It wasn't even that he was treating her badly, because Carly knew how Jason worked and it wasn't his intention at all. He was doing this to punish himself and protect her instead. But this wasn't what she wanted.

Carly felt terrible for not being honest with him last night about the whole Spencer situation. But she couldn't tell him everything because it meant exposing the girl's secrets as well, which she didn't have the permission to and felt a responsibility to keep it that way.

When she arrived to work the following morning, she still hadn't heard nothing from Jason. With a mixture of worry and guilt hanging on her shoulders, Carly decided on her lunch break that day that she would try make things right with her lover.

Heading to the brew, she picked them up two coffee's, as well as a sandwich each and a slice of cake, before she headed over to the DiLaurentis' real estate, knowing how much of a risk it was to be heading over there during the daytime, when the town would be flocked with people on their lunch breaks.

But right now, all Carly could think about was how badly she wanted to see Jason and make things right.

Once she arrived outside, Carly slowly wandered over to the door and knocked lightly on it, before putting her hand on the handle and slipping inside, making a look over her shoulder before she came in to make sure no one had been watching her.

As she closed up the door and turned back round, Jason wondered through into the waiting room to see who had walked and if they needed his service. He was surprised to see Carly stood there.

"Hey." He found himself saying instantly, his eyes rolling over her, realising just how much he had missed her since last night.

"Hey," She greeted him back with a light smile, the awkwardness already lingering over them, "I hope you haven't eaten. I thought I'd drop by and bring you some lunch."

Jason returned the smile when he saw Carly wiggle the brown paper bag with their lunches inside in the air, "I haven't actually."

"Good."

"Come on through." He suggested, leading the way into the office area of the estate business.

Carly followed him through into the office, feeling the nerves fighting away at her stomach and once she was inside, she stood on one side of the room whilst Jason stood on the other.

"How's your day been so far?" Carly asked, trying to make conversation with him, before she went in deep.

"Uh ok, thanks," He responded, before shuffling on his feet uncomfortably, "yours?"

"Yeah, fine," She answered, before tucking her hair over her ear again, "I, um, heard you come back last night."

"Uh yeah," Jason awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, "I didn't want to disturb you, so I took the couch."

"You wouldn't have. I was awake." Carly assured him, though there was no point now since they hadn't slept beside each other last night, they couldn't go back and change it now.

"I know, but just after everything that happened, I just thought you wouldn't want to sleep next to me," He continued on his explanation, "and that's also why I didn't stick around this morning."

"Of course I would have wanted to. I was lonely without you and it also wasn't nice waking up to an empty apartment." She told him sadly.

"I just couldn't be around you last night, Carls," Jason told her, causing hurt to come over her slightly, "I was far too angry and I didn't want you to see me like that."

"It's fine, Jason," Carly felt like all she ever did was reassure him and herself, "I get it. You have every right to be angry with me."

"Not so much you," He told her honestly, he didn't want her to feel bad for how he reacted, because it was his own wrong doing, "more so with everyone else, especially Spencer."

"Spencer is my friend and has only been trying to help this whole situation." She informed him.

"Why though? Why would Spencer help you? Why can't I?" Jason asked, somewhat feeling his anger from last night bubble again.

"Because, Jason, she's also in the midst of this," Carly felt like she had already explained this to him, but maybe she hadn't been so clear on it, "she's also been getting targetted, you know that. I can't tell you everything she has told me, Jason."

"Why not?" He pressed.

"Because they're not my secrets to tell," She answered, stepping over to him slowly, "if you really want to know, then you'll have to ask Spencer, not me."

"Ok."

Standing in front of him, Carly slowly laid her hands on his chest and glanced up at his face, which was trying so hard not to look down at her, "I don't want this to come between us anymore. It shouldn't have to be this way."

"I know."

"The whole Alison thing, you know there is nothing we can really do, right?" She told him sadly.

Carly had spent her morning at work going over the case file and trying to see if there was any evidence at all to suggest that Alison could come out of this innocent, but the case just read guilty. There was no way a judge or the cops to come to any different conclusion.

Alison looked so guilty. Carly couldn't change that now. It would be far too much of a risk for all of them.

But it still didn't stop her feeling guilty and sorry for Jason.

"I know." He repeated with a light sigh.

"All you can do is remain optimistic about it and hope for the best."

"I guess so."

"I want to make this work between us Jason. I'm sorry I wasn't honest sooner, but honestly I didn't know how to tell you. I was scared of how you'd react." Carly explained to him, somewhat nervously.

"It's ok. This isn't your fault. I'm glad you told me in the end." Jason responded.

"Then please can we move forward?"

Jason knew Carly was right. They had to move forward, despite how angry he still felt, he knew he couldn't blame her and they had to be strong for each other coming up to this hard time with the trial.

They wouldn't be able to cope if they were constantly on tense ground. They had to be a team and strong together.

Finally giving into her gaze on him, Jason stared down at the girl in front of him, seeing the hope in her eyes, before he moved his hand up to her face and stroked her cheek lightly, "of course."

"Good." She smiled up at him, before capturing his lips in her own and then laying her head down on his chest, pulling him into an embrace.

Holding Carly back, Jason felt the tension drift out of the room almost instantly and he felt relieved that the bad terms they had been on yesterday were now gone, hopefully never to be returned.

After a few moments, Carly pulled away from Jason and motioned down to the bag of food on the table alongside the coffee cups, "I was hoping we could have lunch together.."

"Thats not a problem." He smiled at her for the first time that day, before taking a seat down with her on the couch.

Carly leant over and grabbed one of the coffee cups, before she took a small sip out of the liquid, watching Jason grab his and unscrew the lid, blowing on the steaming brew unlike Carly who just went straight in there.

As she was busy staring at him, Carly felt herself sigh slightly when she realised how much she had missed him last night, as well as how lucky she was to have him in her life and be with such a great guy.

He also looked so sexy in his suit. The way his shirt sat on his arms, there were a couple of buttons undone at the top, exposing his upper chest and his sleeves were rolled up slightly, showing some light hairs across his lightly coloured tanned arms.

God he was doing things to her and her hormones. Maybe she should have accepted his offer on doing it last night, then she wouldn't have been sat here trying to control her inner self control that was lacking badly.

When he felt the young woman's gaze beside him linger longer than usual, Jason turned his head to look over at her slightly, smirking when she realised he had caught her staring and a light flush of colour crept over her cheeks, before he asked, "What?"

"Nothing." She tried to ignore his now gaze on her, as she leant over and laid her coffee cup down.

"Oh come on," He chuckled lightly, also laying his cup down, before leaning back on the couch, "you were staring."

"So?" Carly also leant back, rolling her tongue on her lip mischievously.

Jason noticed the action and felt his own arousal grow, "I want to know why."

"Because you look..."

"I look what?"

"Very sexy." She informed him, in a quiet and soft tone.

"Oh yeah?" Jason beamed, laying his hand down on her bare leg where the pencil skirt she was wearing didn't quite reach.

"Mmm." Carly hummed back to him, moving her hand over to him and toying with the buttons on his shirt.

"You're full of naughtiness today, aren't you?" He teased, loving how quickly the uncomfortable atmosphere could be changed into one of sexual tension.

"I just missed you that's all." She looked up at him through her lashes.

"And I missed you."

"Why don't you show me just how much you missed me?" Carly questioned, surprising herself, as well as Jason at her new found charm that liked to come out every so often.

Looking back on this moment, Carly would have probably cringed at her choice of words, but right now she didn't care because all she could think about was how good Jason looked and how good he could make her feel.

She needed him more than ever. It wasn't an option now to refuse him. Carly wanted Jason.

And he wanted her just as much, more than ever before also.

"Don't have to ask me twice."

* * *

 **Author note: Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while again since the last update. I think I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to update the already written parts I have every so often and then leave the story there. It's not that I don't love the show, the characters or this story, because I do. But I just don't ever have the time to write or focus on it. I have a personal life and other stories I write for also, it's so hard to juggle them all. But if you would like to continue reading what I still have written, which is quite a lot, then please do and if anyone wants to know at the end of that what I had planned for the other episodes and in particular season 7 then I'd love to inform you :) Heck, I might even change my mind and end up writing lots more for this story! You guys will have to let me know if you'd want me to continue on and update when I can.**

 **Special thanks to RHatch89, ImsebastianButter, LiLuLo12 and Chibi for reviewing the last part. Carly will definitely be standing up for herself more and more when it comes to her Dad and Brooke. I'm sure you saw it already with Melissa. She isn't going to take things so lightly anymore. Also in relation to Carly's addiction to alcohol, yes she didn't drink for a huge period of time, but when you've been the stereotypical perfect girl your whole life and come from a family that is the same, John has almost brainwashed Carly to believe that her actions that year was a disgrace to herself and the family. It isn't so much the addiction that she is so fearful of, she can just about cope with that and tries not to use it as her way of dealing with her emotions, instead it's something that happened to her after drinking alcohol one day that changed everything for her, that her Dad believes was all her fault and Jason was also to blame. It will all be revealed soon just wait!**

 **Sorry this has been such a ramble hahaha but I hope you guys liked this part :) I'd love to know your thoughts.**

 **Have a great weekend,**

 **guiltypleasurexo**


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